Tamed Threat, Untamed Love
by Empress Mimi
Summary: "Do you even know what I am?" I asked her curiously. "I suppose," She answered. I wanted to hear her answer so much that I encouraged her: "Tell me." She answered instantly, not doubting at all: "A vampire." Read the rest of the story and review, thanks!
1. Lawrence

_**A/N:**__ Hello, hello!_

_I'm Mimi, this is my first vampires fanfic, and I sincerely hope that you'll enjoy reading it._

_A little bit about the story. It's about a classical forbidden romance between a female mortal and male vampire. Main characters are Anne and Lawrence._

_Why should you waste your time reading this? There are several reasons..._

_1. My vampires are mostly badass, so if you like Anne Rice's and C. Harris's literature, you're probably going to love this. I know that I do, and my biggest influence for writing this was reading and watching movies made after Vampire Chronicles._

_2. Lots of romance...I can't help myself but to write that way._

_3. Unexpected happenings starting somewhere around 25th chapter. Trust me, you've never read anything like that before._

_Did that convince you? If yes, sink your teeth into this story and don't let it go until it's finished. If no, still give it a try...I think you won't be disappointed._

_Also, __**REVIEW**__, please! I know that a lot of people have seen this first chapter (like 250 or so) but I don't have so many reviews. So please, share your opinion with me, whether it's good or bad! I'm a review junkie! And the best thing about them is when I get long reviews ;)_

_**P.S.**__ If you wonder what inspires me for writing, there's a soundtrack section for this story in my profile so check it out =)) You can also find the pictures for the characters there. Some of them are related to further chapters, of course, but you'll figure that out :)_

**Tamed ****Threat, Untamed Love**

_Dedicated to __the ones searching for true love (if such thing even exists), including me._

**1.**** Lawrence**

She walked through an empty street in the center of London, in the time of the night perfect to fill the newspapers up with articles about criminals. Those days, vampire crime was at its highest point ever since the 18th century when I was made. Most vampires didn't even care about hiding their dead victims. Too many fresh and stupid vampires didn't know they had to hide their existence.

I really didn't want to corner that girl that night. I didn't even want to frighten her. I wasn't thirsty. After fifty short (or long, in your case) years of surviving on mostly hospital blood or drinking from another willing vampire every now and then, I allowed my damned nature to control my actions again. I drank from the first bum that appeared in my way that night. I shouldn't have attacked the girl. However, I did it. I was on the wrong side of life that night and I couldn't do anything about it. It was my nature that controlled my actions and my thoughts.

Why did she have to stop and accidentally look into that alley, to see my first prey after fifty years? As someone who was more noble and better than I, she kneeled next to the dead bum and checked if he was alive. She even tried to call an ambulance, but she obviously didn't have enough service. Then, she looked more carefully at the bum's neck and noticed my bite marks. She stood up. Her facial expression was completely clear to me despite the fact that I was above her, on a roof of a nearby building. First, there was confusion. Then there was denial. Then she began to realize. After that, she became hysteric and began to run away.

Before she succeeded in that, I knew I had to stop her. The secret of the existence of my kind was exactly that - a secret, and it was meant to remain one. The mortals have always liked books and movies about us, considering us attractive and dangerous at the same time. But for them we are fictional characters and not a part of reality.

I messed up and was reckless while hiding my victim, which now had been found by a mortal. It was my problem and I had to solve it alone, before the girl could tell someone else.

Before she turned away from the dead end alley, I landed behind her back, quietly and slowly. She didn't notice anything until she bumped into me. Her palms were left on my chest from the collision and she snatched them off of me as she realized I was standing in front of her. She trembled while raising her eyes to look at me and as she took in my face, my outlook and finally my eyes, her face slowly lost its color.

How many times did I see a reaction like that? It's always the same. At first, they are confused by my height - especially women. It has happened to me often, even when I was still a mortal, because with my 1,9 meters I have always been taller than the average men. After my height, my face is often the second object of admiration. Pale and with nice features, as I have heard many times.

I couldn't read minds, but the girl's face told me everything. She was afraid, hysteric, surprised...All at once. She tried to escape but I locked my arms firmly around her waist and immobilized her. In a little bit more than two centuries of existence, I have developed my strength and made it superior to mortal strength or weakness, if you will.

I pushed her against the brick wall in the alley, put my palms on the wall on either side of her head and came closer to her so that she wasn't able to escape from me. I was touching her with almost every part of my body except my face and hands. She didn't like it at all. Again, I noticed her fear, reinforced with embarrassment. She said silently:

"Let me go."

She shot a mad glance at me. I didn't return the look; I did quite the opposite. I looked at her with a completely calm expression.

"Do you even know what I am?" I asked her curiously.

"I suppose," she answered.

I wanted to hear her answer so much that I encouraged her:

"Tell me."

She answered instantly, not doubting at all:

"A vampire."

She trembled in fear, with her eyes gaping up at me. It was amusing. I liked being stronger, faster, and more agile than the mortals. I liked the role of the predator, superb to his dumb and slow prey, although I rarely took advantage of it. I exclaimed playfully:

"Bingo! Are you afraid of me?"

"No," she answered - too quickly. Little mortal liar.

"Oh, really?" I teased. Her words and actions were out of sync. She trembled and tried to sound brave at the same time.

"Yes," she insisted.

"And why is that so?" I asked with my head tilted to side, in a cliché vampire stance.

"Because you would've already hurt me if you wanted to," she said, her sentence sounding more like a question than like a statement.

"Really?" I asked her, playing with her nerves.

"Yes. Can I go now?"

"I don't know, I wanted to keep you here just a little longer," I said and bit the inner side of my lip, wondering if I was really not thirsty.

"I have a black belt," the girl lied, not looking straight into my eyes but a little above them, believing I wouldn't notice.

"You're lying," I said, looking straight into her dark chocolate eyes.

She looked at me intensely for one brief moment and then did something that didn't surprise me at all. She screamed. Instantly, I clamped her mouth shut with my left palm and decided it was time to frighten her. I let my fangs out in my closed mouth and hissed in the dark:

"It would be better for you to shut up now."

She tried to bite my palm. She couldn't, of course, so I smiled. She just scratched my palm lightly with her front teeth in her attempts. After that, I lowered my jaw to her eye line so she could see my fangs clearly.

Her screams ceased immediately and her warm breath stopped crashing against my palm. Unfortunately, her earlier scream had already drawn the attention of one coincidental passerby. I heard steps at a distance of maybe ten meters from us, right behind the corner where the dead end alley merged with the main street.

_"Who the hell would be walking in the center of London two hours after midnight? It can't be anyone else but a cop on a night shift," _I thought.

There were only two possible actions open to me: to attack that third person or fool him. I went with the second one. Two assaults on two mortals were too much for me and the third one would be unbearable. I wouldn't be able to cope with the guilt afterwards. I dragged the girl with my left hand and shoved the corpse behind the trash container with the other one.

"If you want to come home alive tonight, don't protest," I told the girl and returned us to the wall, eyeing her. Damn, she was too pretty to kill. An instant solution that didn't include harming her popped into my head.

The stranger's shoes scratched the pavement but stopped at the corner to see what was happening in the half dark where we stood. At that instant, I began kissing the girl with pure joy after retracting my fangs in order not to bite her. I hoped it would keep the stranger from figuring out what I was really doing - assaulting an innocent girl.

She didn't protest - she didn't even try to stop me. I guess she had taken my threat seriously, though I knew very well that I wouldn't be able to hurt her. She reminded me too much of Natalie. And the feeling? It was indescribable. No word could capture it well enough. As I had hoped, the shoes didn't clap away but they gave me some more time.

And the girl? At first, she acted dead beneath my lips and then a turnover happened. She pushed her lips into mine with the same force. As she searched for my tongue with her own, I let out a deep moan. She embraced me with her warm hands around my neck. I still held her around her waist tightly, to remind her that she was unable to run away from me. I didn't understand what made her act that way, but honestly - I didn't care. I enjoyed the kiss too much.

Suddenly, the person at the corner coughed theatrically. I parted from the girl unwillingly and looked at the stranger.

It was a cop, just as I had assumed. He cleared his throat unnecessarily once again and waited for us to acknowledge him. Did I mention I have always hated cops? When you need them they aren't around but when you don't need them, here they come like retarded flies attracted by crap.

"Hmm..." I started, acting confused in order to leave the impression of a horny college student caught with his girl in an inappropriate place while making out.

"Hmm nothing," the fat bearded cop answered with a pure British accent. "Rent a room, for God's sake."

I held girl's hand tightly to make her remember that my threat was still valid, and then went with her towards the cop, leading her behind me.

"Yes, officer," I said, acting obediently.

The _badass_ cop smiled and said, waving with the nightstick approvingly and continuing in his way:

"Come on, go on..."

Soon I heard his quiet commentary: "Kids..."

I chuckled at his ignorance and then felt the warm hand gliding out from mine. I said to the girl, with my face near to hers:

"You're a good kisser."

She blushed, but kept listening. It would have been great if such a thing as compulsion, glamor or however it's called actually existed. It would have been much easier for me to convince the girl to keep my secret to herself.

"You should forget that you saw anything. And don't tell anyone about it. Now go before I change my mind," I told her.

She didn't wait for me to say that again. Walking fast, almost running, she continued along the street in her original direction.

_"Concentrate, Lawrence! Don't go after her,"_ I ordered myself, knowing that I had probably traumatized the girl enough for a couple of days. The desire to go after her was strong but I moved away from the alley and went to my place. As I walked lazily, not being in the mood to fly, I wondered whether the girl had succeeded in awakening emotions that I had ignored for too long.


	2. Anne

_**A/N**: Nice to 'meet' you again!_

_ This chapter has exactly the same contents as the first one, but it's written in Anne's POV. Read it or continue to the third one._

_Dig in! :) And **review**, please! :))  
_

**2. Anne**

Why? Why do such abnormal things always happen to me? Haven't I suffered enough of life's tragedies already? Isn't the fact that I was orphaned at the age of six and that my foster mother died five years ago enough ? Isn't it enough that I live alone? That I am twenty-one years old and can count all of my living family members on the fingers of just one hand?

Obviously, it's not. Someone has a bad sense of humor if we talk about my life. That night, I was coming back home from my best friend Stacie's apartment. We were studying for the upcoming archeology history exam that was in two days. True, when we finished studying, it was too late and I shouldn't have even thought about going home alone. However, I had to finish some things at home and to prepare myself for the next day at school, so I had to go.

Half past two in the night. Anyone who walked alone through London streets those days at that time was really pushing his luck. Those days, robberies and assaults were very often. The newspapers were repeatedly full of articles about disturbing stories every day and those stories had temporarily substituted the ones about the British Royal Family. Honestly, back then everyone would have rather read about the goofy princes instead of the horror on the city streets.

All those cases were the same or at least very similar. Stabbed victim, bled out victim, beaten up victim, robbed victim and over again like that from the beginning, more than three months in a row. The police couldn't do anything and the evidence was never appearing. It was as if the professional criminals were showing their skills, mocking the public order and peace organs.

I dared to start going through the dark street towards the bus station although I new really well what was I getting myself into. God knows how many times I cursed myself for not having a driver's license and my own car. I could only rely on the pepper spray in my bag and my high-pitched screaming if I was attacked.

I walked fast and looked around all the time, checking if I was going to notice something suspicious. And there it was. In a short dead end alley that merged with the main street that I was walking through, something lay on the asphalt next to the smelly trash container. No, it wasn't something. It was a man.

I hurried there immediately to check if he was alive. It was a bum that, of course, stank like cheap liquor. I checked for his pulse. Nothing. So he wasn't just drunk. He was dead.

I pulled my cell out of my bag and tried to call an ambulance. There was no service so I stood up and tried again, moving further into the dead end. Then I realized everything. I recognized the two spots covered with coagulated blood, which were on the bum's neck. I almost dropped the cell on the ground, but I calmed down and put it back in my bag. My thoughts went crazy while thinking my idea through:

_And how could a vampire do such thing, Anne? In advance, read less vampire fiction..._

_Impossible..._

_But nothing else can be..._

_Run away, now!_

When that last thought reached my brain, I started shivering and I turned around, ready to run away as fast as I could, pushed forward by the survival instinct. Boo.

There was nothing, actually no one, supposed to be behind me, but of course, there was. The first rule of horror movies is not to turn around. But this wasn't a horror movie; it was reality.

My hands ended on someone's muscular, hard chest. I realized that I was busted and I decided to look up to see who was in front of me. I trembled as I raised my head up to look him in the face. If the stranger wasn't someone who was intending to attack me, I would've fallen in love with him immediately, head over heels.

He was taller by one head; he had a perfect face, pale - not too excessively and with a male model's features. His lips had a more natural color; his eyes were black and shiny in the half dark. His hair was black, too, with a razor cut hairstyle glided with some hair gel or hair wax. His body was flawless, his clothes were casual - denim jeans, grey T-shirt and unzipped black leather jacket, which fit his body as if it was his second skin.

I tried to move away from him, to tear myself away, to do anything in order to run away. Just after my first move, he gripped my waist tightly, dragged me to the brick wall before pushing me against it and starting to play with my too thin nerves.

He put his both hands at the sides of my head and got close to me, leaving a little space between our faces, our thighs touching. Do I really have to mention how uncomfortable it was to be so close to a complete stranger with suspicious intentions? His fingers that were touching the wall behind me were long and perfectly sculpted, like those of a piano player. I tried to back away from him; I wanted to be sucked in by the cold wall behind me, but nothing happened.

When my brain finally regained its consciousness, I spoke, with a moderate voice level; knowing that screaming and yelling would not work:

"Let me go."

I shot the deadliest glance that I could at him. He looked at me, his face completely calm and asked me:

"Do you even know what I am?" his voice was halfway between deep and soft, very pleasant but still making me very nervous.

"I suppose," I answered, my voice raspy and shaky. My answer confused him. It did the same thing to me. He dared me:

"Tell me."

I didn't care about the fact that he might [think that I was insane by saying that he was a fictional creature. I spurred out automatically, feeling like Bella, only missing awkward face expressions:

"A vampire?"

I started trembling and kept my eyes open wide, waiting for his reply.

"Bingo!" he exclaimed, obviously having a great time while asking me, "Are you afraid of me?"

"No," I lied, knowing how idiotic I looked at that moment, trembling like a fool and pretending to be brave in front of a vampire who probably planned for me to be his dinner.

"Oh, really?" he cocked his right brow up.

"Yes," I confirmed.

"And why is that so?" he asked and tilted his head to the side.

"Because you would've already hurt me if you wanted to," I stated, although the sentence sounded like it had a question mark on its end instead of the full stop. The vampire kept silent, probably thinking my answer through.

"Really?" He repeated that irritating word once again.

"Yes. Can I go now?" I hoped for a positive answer although I knew in advance that I wasn't going to get it.

"I don't know, I wanted to keep you here just a little longer," he said and casually bit his appealing lower lip.

"I have a black belt," I lied, making a desperate move. I avoided his black intense eyes and instead of looking straight at them, I looked in between his brows, hoping that he wouldn't realize that I wasn't telling the truth. His facial expression became skeptical. I knew that I wasn't convincing at all.

"You're lying," he said, looking me straight in the eyes as if he was giving me an example of telling the truth.

For a brief moment, I observed him and waited for his next move. When I saw that I had nothing more left, I screamed, despite the fact that I knew that he wasn't going to like it at all.

At the same second when I let out my scream, he clamped my mouth shut with his cold palm and hissed at me:

"It would be better for you to shut up now."

I decided to bite him but he just smiled at my failed attempts and showed me his fangs. I stopped breathing. The fear soaked every pore of my skin, though I had always fantasized about meeting a real vampire. The fantasy turned out to be a major horror.

Soon, I heard someone's footsteps near us. Mentally I begged that stranger to come into the dead end alley where I was kept by the vampire and to set me free. Before I could notice, we moved away from the wall, and then the vampire shoved the bum behind the container and brought us back to our primary position.

"If you want to come home alive tonight, don't protest," he threatened me, his voice unusually pleasant while eyeing me in a strange way, visible lust in his eyes.

I decided to obey his order, knowing how it could end for me if I didn't do so. When the stranger stopped at the corner where the dead end and the main street merged, in order to check what was happening, I felt the vampire's cold lips on mine.

At first, the cold radiating from his lips startled me, but then I remembered his threat. After trying to remain immobile beneath his way too soft and comfortable lips, my resistance was about to break. Kissing someone who was so attractive, whose lips were touching mine with a perfect intensity and who was a vampire didn't seem like such a bad idea. Besides, my life depended on that kiss, according to vampire's threat.

Of course, I engaged in the kiss completely and curled my hands around the vampire's neck; realizing that was his plan. He wanted to fool the passerby at the corner into thinking we were a couple. His hands claimed my waist, not too loosely and not too firm, strong enough to make sure that I wouldn't tear myself from him. Kissing him actually felt good, the contrast in our lips' temperature was wonderful. When I touched his tongue, I heard his deep moan which confirmed that I wasn't the only one enjoying the kiss.

The vampire might have been as menacing as he was, but when it came to kissing, he was a kissing god. Maybe that was the reason why I liked that kiss - because it was so good and so dangerous at the same time, pumping me up with adrenaline.

"Ahem..." The stranger faked a cough and ended our kiss. The vampire parted his lips from mine. I wasn't sure if I was glad or sorry about that.

The stranger was silent and he coughed once again, waiting for an explanation I guess. He acted as if the vampire was having sex with me and not kissing me in the alley.

"Hm..." The vampire began, still holding me.

"Hm nothing," the cop said. "Rent a room, for God's sake."

The vampire took my hand and led me out from the dead end, keeping me behind him.

"Yes, officer," he said, acting obediently. I knew that it was humiliating for him, concerning the fact that he was a vampire, superior to the cop in many aspects.

"Come on, go on..." The cop said and then continued on his way. Soon we heard his quiet commentary: "Kids..."

Maybe I would have chuckled at that but the current situation was too dire. I pulled my hand out of the vampire's. He noticed and said, with his face close to mine:

"You're a good kisser."

I blushed up to the roots of my hair as he told me that but I kept listening to him.

"But you should forget that you saw anything this night. And don't tell anyone about it. Now go before I change my mind."

I unscrambled my brain, moved away and almost ran to the bus station. The vampire didn't follow me. I couldn't wait to get home, to safety.

When I walked into my house and locked the front door, it was half past three in the morning.

"Damn it..." I mumbled, wondering whether I was going to succeed in preparing myself for the next day at school. Probably not.

No, it definitely wasn't the time to think about college obligations, nor about my half time job in the Archeological Museum of London. Not after what happened that night. Soon, my face lost its color completely.

"There are others," I whispered to myself, knowing that the vampire I had met that night couldn't be the only one out there. The other ones were surely not as friendly as he was to me, and they certainly weren't going around kissing mortals as he did with me that night, but killing them.

_What if...What if all the crimes in London were committed by the vampires? Everything matches..._

There were too many matching things to make that thought not true. Bled out victims - that was too obvious. Robbed victims - a little less obvious. The beaten up victims could have been beaten by regular criminals, though. I shivered and slid down the wall to the floor, feeling like I was going to burst.

That night I had revealed a secret that shouldn't have been revealed; a secret I couldn't reveal to anyone. They would declare me crazy if I told them, nonchalantly tell me to stop watching TrueBlood, reading vampire fiction and living in a fantasy. No one would believe me.

Except now that I had met a real vampire, an impossible and unreal thing up to this moment, I could not think about anything but him. He was so handsome. So charming, despite the fact that he was a vampire - a dangerous vampire. His voice was so special. His kisses so freaking good. But for me, it was better not to meet him ever again. I hoped that it would be that way.


	3. Damsel In Distress

_**A/N:**__ Enjoy reading the chapter and tell me do you like it or not. :)_

**3. Damsel ****In Distress**

The next day I overslept, not waking up until ten; I felt and looked unhealthy, just like a zombie. I spent most of the night wide awake because my thoughts had a party and my brain wasn't keen on the idea of being silent either. Despite this, as on every average day of my life, I had to be at college to hear all of my classes because I was a full time student. After that, I had to work at the Archeological Museum as an assistant (actually a secretary) of Mr. Frederick, my pain-in-the-ass boss and the Director of the Museum.

I guess this is the part where I'm expected to say something about myself. I'm Anne Crockwall, a twenty-one year old Archeology and English Language student from London. I live alone. No, I don't have parents. They died in an airplane crash somewhere above the Pacific when they were coming back from a vacation when I was six years old. After that, I was put for adoption because there was nobody to take care of me.

Millie and Georg Isaksson adopted me. They were unable to have children because Millie was sterile. Millie died when I was sixteen after having a heart attack. When my application for college was accepted, my foster father Georg went to his motherland Sweden to develop his little business. I stayed in London, living in the house where I spent most of my childhood and teen years with Millie and Georg. Actually, I wasn't alone. I had friends, my second family, in London.

The less important facts...I'm 1,7 meters tall, I have dark brown hair that comes down to the half of my back and eyes in the same shade of brown. I'm single, but I had a boyfriend until two months from now and his name was Matt. Matthew actually, but everyone called him Matt because he didn't particularly like his real name. He thought it sounded too mature.

After having a refreshing shower after a sleepless night, washing my hair, having breakfast, studying and getting ready for the day in front of me, I went to school. After hearing some unusually boring classes, with the exception of always-amusing English literature class with the wickedest college professor, I went to my workplace at the Museum.

When I arrived there, it was two minutes until four PM, the start of my shift. I breathed in deep and got in, ready for an exhausting workday.

At the end of my shift I was fed up to the top with office jobs and the boring objections of always-cranky Mr. Frederick, so I went home straightly. When I was passing a small park near the Museum, encircled with pine trees and with a lovely fountain in its center, I felt that my cell had vibrated, informing me about an incoming text. I lowered my bag from my right shoulder to my left wrist and shuffled through it in order to find the cell. Suddenly, someone grabbed me and dragged me behind a large pine tree.

At first I thought that I was being attacked again by the same vampire as last night and honestly, I would have been glad if that was true. Instead, I was confronted by a _professional_. I couldn't tell what it was that he wanted; my money, my jewelry or did he simply intend to rape me.

Instinctively, I screamed out of the top of my lungs. That wasn't smart and it pissed the _pro_, who started threatening me and held a pocketknife to my throat: "Make another sound and it will be your last."

He was slightly drunk and clumsy but the cold knife on my skin made me more obedient. Oh, what wouldn't I give at that moment to be standing in front of the mysterious vampire...I started crying.

"Give me all your money, cell phone, everything!" he yelled at me and yanked the knife harder to my neck.

I didn't hesitate and I backed away quickly, screamed for the second time and intended to run away. On a nearby building, one window became bright.

_"Good, at least someone heard me..."_ I thought thankfully, and fell down on my knees, facing the cold asphalt. Actually, I didn't fall down. I was pushed down.

I turned my glance back to see what was happening. Behind me, there was a tall man, dressed all in black and turned towards the pro. The knife was now in his hands. When the stranger finally spoke, I was relieved:

"Get lost, you bastard!"

It was the same smooth voice as last night. Nothing sounded to me better in my life than that voice at that moment. "And don't dare to try something like this ever again!

The _pro_ ran away, dashing like mad. The vampire put the knife in his pocket, after closing it. From the same bright window on the nearby building that I saw before a female voice called in our direction:

"Is everything OK down there?"

The vampire offered me a hand to get up. I gripped it, got on my legs that were still wobbly from shock, and stood near to him, feeling that I was about to collapse. He looked in the direction of the worried woman and answered her, loudly enough for her to hear him:

"Yes, ma'am. Close the window, it's chilly."

She nodded and closed the window. The light was turned off soon.

"Are you OK?" the vampire asked me, and got me by surprise. Why would he care about how was I feeling? His voice calmed me down instantly, though. I nodded positively, obviously lying, and still stifling tears. I forgot how good he was at deciding if I was telling the truth or lying. I felt that I was losing the strength to stand or even speak. The sleepless night was catching up with me.

The vampire's eyes squinted at me suspiciously, noticed the dark circles I couldn't hide by applying concealer that morning and he said:

"No, you're not."

I thought I heard a trace of guilt in his voice. He held me when I almost fell down, having no strength to stand on my own.

"Obviously you're not in a condition to go home alone," he concluded.

"I'm not," I admitted.

"Then I'm going with you," he said.

Without any special intention, I got closer to him instinctively and held him around his back, my head beyond his chin. I felt his hesitant touch on my back, too.

"Thanks...Thank you," I muffled against his shirt.

"You're welcome," he answered and removed his hands from my back. "Now, how about telling me how to get you home?"

After that, I gave him short instructions how to get to my house and we started walking there. After maybe five steps, I managed to trip and fall, still feeling too shaken up to walk normally.

"That's it," he said as he saw my wobbly steps and frightened me when he suddenly picked me up in his arms to carry me.

"Put me down," I said with a panicky edge in my voice. The fact that my neck was just a few inches from his mouth wasn't reassuring at all.

"Hell no," he refused and continued walking. I sighed out and said, before holding him around his neck and putting my head on his shoulder, hoping that he wasn't thirsty:

"Fine."

"Of course it is," he said and tickled me with his cold breath.

"How did you find me again tonight?" I asked curiously.

"I was nearby and I heard your screams," he answered. I supposed he remembered the tone of my scream from the night before.

"Hero, what's your name?" I wondered.

"Hero?" he repeated and chuckled. "I'm far from that. And the name is Lawrence Hashbury."

"Where are you from?" I asked him, noticing his accent which was different from my own.

"What is this, a police interrogation?" he protested and I didn't speak as I waited for the answer. After a few moments, he sighed and said: "I'm from Cardiff, officer."

I chuckled and then he asked:

"And what's your name, you trouble magnet?"

"Anne."

"Haven't you learned your lesson last night and remembered not to walk alone this late?" he asked disapprovingly.

"I've got no other choice. I'm returning from work," I explained.

"And suddenly, work is more important to the mortals than their life. How small-minded," he commented and I didn't say anything back.

In half an hour, we arrived at my front door. He set me down on my feet, held me a bit until I regained my balance and then turned around to go away.

"Don't go. Not yet," I said, not even knowing why. "Will you come to me tomorrow at about this time?"

"It wouldn't be smart," he replied, glancing at me over his shoulder.

"Please," I said and walked in front of him before doing another unexplainable move - hugging him and saying, "I want to see you again."

When I pulled away, he looked into my face intently. Surely, I had a desperate facial expression. He mused, matter of factly:

"That doesn't mean anything to me."

I said thoughtlessly, "If you come again, you can bite me."

"You're acting very, very idiotic, you do realize that?" he asked me and raised his brow before saying, "I could suck you dry before you would even blink."

"But you won't," I stated and saw the defeated expression on his face. I was right.

"True. I'm trying to hold on to my humanity, so I don't kill mortals. Especially not innocent, handsome females," he explained and I tried hard not to blush because of his compliment. After that, he sighed slowly as he saw me smiling contently and said, "Fine. Where do you work?"

"In the Archeological Museum," I answered.

He nodded and said, "OK."

"My shift is over at eight PM," I added.

"Then I'll meet you at the entrance tomorrow around eight. I'm not in the mood for saving you every day," he said and chuckled. I did, too.

"Deal," I agreed and smiled widely.

"And please, get some sleep. You look worse than I do."

"Thanks," I acted to be insulted.

"No, seriously," he said and traced my dark circles with his cold finger, making the goose bumps on my skin appear. "You need it. And I will certainly not carry you each time we encounter."

"OK, I'll sleep. A lot."

"Deal," he said as he stepped down my porch. "Good night, now."

"Night," I said and after he had walked away, I unlocked the door and stepped into my house.

Inside, there wasn't anything I could call a warm home atmosphere. No parents to smile and hug me, happy because I had finally come home. No foster parents to do the same. No enamored boyfriend, waiting to kiss me passionately and make me forget about the world outside. No pets, either. I couldn't take care of a pet, I had too little time, always being busy with college stuff, work and hanging around.

I walked into the living room lazily, knowing that nothing special was waiting for me there. I threw myself on the sofa to rest my back that ached like hell after a sleepless night and exhausting day. Before dragging myself up the stairs to my room to sleep, I had to answer to some questions in my head, to discuss them with myself in silence.

First - was hanging around my new vampire acquaintance smart? I sorted that out in my head like this: yes, Lawrence did corner me the night before and scared me shitless. But on the other hand, tonight he had saved me. He walked me home, he didn't simply leave me on the street to faint and sleep on the asphalt until morning. Standing next to him felt so safe now, although I knew it wasn't completely that way. And yes, he was definitely easy on the eyes and a remarkable kisser...

Second - in the case that dating Lawrence, or something less serious than a relationship was possible, was I ready for that? Was my heart ready to be given to someone again after the disaster with my ex? Was I ready to go through the same heart-tearing pain if we broke up, to feel the same misery and to underestimate myself, feeling like I wasn't good enough? Yes, the foolish organ on the left side of my chest was still sore on the edges, but on the other side - just the thought of Lawrence made it jump erratically. I was falling for him, that was for sure.

Third - the first question once again. Was Lawrence really that harmless and safe to be around? He didn't bite me, he even said that he won't - but he's a vampire and blood is his _fuel_. I am a huge reservoir of that fuel – how could I be sure he wouldn't attack me eventually? Again, he could have done it right away if he had wanted it in the first place. Besides, I wasn't a person who had too much to lose so I wasn't afraid at all, or at least I wasn't as afraid as I had been last night.

In the end, I simply decided to see where things were going, get to know the guy and decide if he was someone worth my time and feelings.


	4. My Immortal

_**A/N:**__ Hey! So, you're still reading this? Good, good! Don't give up on reading and you won't regret it!_

_Feel free to use that little, lovely button on the end of the chapter! :-*_

**4. My immortal**

The next day school and work passed by me without my notice. I was too preoccupied thinking about my handsome personal savior. My best friend Stacie noticed my weird behavior that day. In Geometry class, she scribbled down a note in her notebook and turned it to me so I could read:

_TELL ME WHO HE IS. RIGHT NOW._

I couldn't hide anything from Stacie, not after our long friendship that began in high school. She knew me too well, she could practically see right through me. I tried to look away from her curious eyes, to act like I didn't know what she was thinking about. Eventually I chuckled and scribbled a note back, reminding myself in my mind not to blab out anything that was supposed to remain a secret:

"Oh, he's just a guy I met two days before."

The scribbling continued. We were sitting in the back of the classroom so the professor didn't notice.

_WHERE IS HE FROM?_

"From here," I wrote down and lied.

_WHEN DO I GET TO MEET HIM?_

"Not yet," I wrote selfishly and flashed my tongue at her childishly. She pouted her lower lip, showing me how discontent she was with my decision.

"Crockwall, Matheson; would you care to share what's so interesting back there?" Mr. Evans asked suddenly. Stacie and I glanced at him immediately.

"Well, I was just explaining to Anne how to sketch a perfect pyramid without using a ruler," Stacie blabbed out. I fought the urge to laugh.

"I would be more than happy if you showed that technique to us all," the professor said with his hands crossed on his chest.

"Um...Sure..." Stacie muttered hesitantly and stood up slowly like she was walking towards the guillotine and not the blackboard. Just as she made her first step, the bell rang and she sighed in relief. Mr. Evans looked upwards, slightly irritated, and waved off with his hand before saying:

"OK folks, check out the examples in your books and prepare for next time, we'll practice."

When he went out, Stacie and I chuckled and I commented:

_"Perfect pyramid?_ Can't you simply say _nothing_ sometimes?"

She laughed and answered, "Well, you know me, complicating everything that can be complicated."

"Yep, silly," I said as I packed the last things in my bag and threw it over my shoulder. "Gotta run, I don't want to be late for work."

"Go, go, go..." she said and smiled as I practically ran out of the classroom.

At work, things were as boring and as smooth as always; Frederick's objections were the same as usual (which means without a valid reason). The clock ticked too slowly. To cut my boredom down, I took the mp4 player from my bag and stuck the left earphone in my ear only so I could hear if someone called for me. After pressing the play button, I wondered which song was going to begin, because I always had the shuffle option turned on. Otherwise, I would overplay one song too much and it would become boring to me.

Light piano chords announced the song's start and they were soon followed by a beautiful and strong female voice. It was "My Immortal" by Evanescence. Whether it was just a coincidence or not, I don't know. I'm guessing not, because songs named _"Vampire Heart", "Vampires Will Never Hurt You" _and_ "If I Was Your Vampire"_ were also stored on the player. Vampire freak, you say?

When it was finally eight PM, I launched myself out of the office after checking the mirror to make sure that I was going to look decent in front of Lawrence.

As I opened the entrance door of the museum, there he was, sitting on a bench on the opposite side of the street, waiting for me. I waved to him, closed the door and began walking across the street. He stood up as I came to him.

He wore casual clothes again but that night he looked more like a rock star with his black jeans and leather jacket, missing only an electric guitar in his hands and a band behind him. The memory of Matt, my ex who had a rock star's style and an amateur rock band stung through my heart, opening the old wound again. I sighed and forbade myself to ruin the moment with bad memories. I smiled lightly and greeted him:

"Hey. You came."

He chuckled, looked around casually and said:

"Well, I can't play Batman every night, can I?"

I laughed and answered:

"There's no damsel in distress tonight, so you're off duty, hero."

"There is a damsel," he said and got closer to me. "But there is also the distress."

After that, he flashed his fangs at me.

"Boo!" I exclaimed and laughed. "Now, take me home."

His facial expression was puzzled, as if he didn't know what to think about my mental health after that.

"Do I need to carry you again?" he asked me as he retracted the perfect fangs.

"No. I feel fine. I slept really long, as my doctor Hashbury ordered me."

He smiled and replied:

"It's lawyer Hashbury, actually. I was one exam away from my diploma in my mortal life."

"Nice," I commented and we started walking.

"And you? What are you studying?"

"Archeology and English Language, two years away from getting my diploma."

"Nerd," he teased and I smacked his arm. "Two subjects at the same time, smartie?"

"Yes, I like both, English as my language and Archeology because..." I started speaking but he finished my sentence:

"...you like old things."

I rolled my eyes and said:

"A-ha-ha-ha...Like I haven't heard that before." I sighed after that. "No, I just find it interesting. But I do like you."

"So, you think I'm old?" he asked with a goofy smile, his teeth glowing in the light of the street lamps above us.

"No, I didn't..." I started explaining. He didn't look old, but certainly, he had to be older than me.

"Actually, I am quite old," he interrupted me.

"How old were you when you were turned?"

"Wanna take a guess?"

"Um...let's see..." I said and tried to observe his face. It was smooth and had just a few little wrinkles beyond the eyes. "Twenty-four?"

"Close. Twenty-five."

"When did it happen?" I asked.

"1789, January 12th."

"Jeez...such a long time..."

"Yep, two hundred and twenty-one years ago."

"It must've been amazing...To witness all of modern history," I said in awe and felt more nerdy than usual. "Both world wars, all the inventions..."

"It wasn't amazing. It was _exhausting_ to keep up with," he said and rolled his eyes. "So I slept most of the time. I'm only sorry that I never had the chance to encounter some disturbed dictators."

"Hitler?"

"Yes. Things would've ended differently if I met him, if you know what I mean. Less dead innocent people."

I smiled and realized that we were already in front of my house.

"You really are better today," Lawrence noticed and I laughed.

"So, I don't look awful anymore?" I teased.

He rolled his eyes and said while smiling, "You didn't look awful yesterday, either." Then he brushed the area where my dark circles were last night with his thumb. "You just looked tortured. And you were. All because of me."

The guilt was in his voice again, like the night before when he saved me. I dared to stroke his cheek.

"It's not your fault," I said and he eyed me intensely.

"Don't lie," he replied and snatched my hand off of his face. "I know what I caused."

I kept silent for a few moments, knowing that there was no point in trying to assure him that he was wrong. After all, he wasn't wrong. He really made me feel awful after meeting him the first night. But somehow, he was already forgiven as I realized that he had another side, one not so terrifying.

"You can make it up to me," I suggested and remembered the kiss that we had shared. I felt goose bumps all over me.

"How?" he asked me and stroked my hair lightly with his right hand, intensifying my goose bumps.

"Kiss me again," I demanded.

He immediately refused with just one word:

"No."

"Please," I pleaded.

"It's dangerous," he tried to convince me to give up. No way, sir. I was too stubborn to accept his refusal.

"Oh, cut the crap, would you? What are you, an Edward Cullen wannabe?" I asked him and returned his intense stare. "Last time you couldn't take your hands off me and now you..."

His lips interrupted my rant. He began kissing me, just as perfectly as the previous time, to my great pleasure. I welcomed his lips warmly and had the same feeling as in the dark dead end alley, only different. Better.

When he stopped and moved away from me, leaving us both almost breathless, he said:

"I should go."

"OK. Today, you decide. But tomorrow, you'll stay as long as I want." I ordered him.

"What makes you think that I'll come to pick you up tomorrow, then?" he asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Um...the fact that London is probably full of other vampires and because you want to protect me?"

He smiled and shook his head.

"Fine. You win. See you at the same time and place."

"Looking forward to it," I said and grinned at him.

"Sleep tight."

"Thanks," I said and he vanished without saying a word. I glanced around the porch to be sure he was gone and said sarcastically before going inside, "Good night to you, too."


	5. Down With The Myths

_**A/N: **__This chapter makes a lot of things clear and introduces you to my type of vampires; to their habits, weaknesses, strengths and everything else you might be interested in._

_Have fun__ and don't forget to review. Each opinion counts! :)_

**5. Down ****With The Myths**

The next day, Lawrence came to the front of the museum at the same time. Again, we walked to my house. When we got to my front door, I asked him:

"Remember what I told you yesterday?"

He looked up at the sky, probably being irritated, and then back at my face before saying:

"You mean that I'm at your mercy now?"

"Yes, something like that."

"I do, unfortunately."

"OK, then follow me inside."

He cleared his throat theatrically and asked:

"Why?"

"Because I say so," I said, sounding and feeling self-confident. "Don't worry, I live alone."

"That's exactly the reason for my worrying."

I pulled him inside after unlocking the door and opening it. I laughed and asked him:

"So, I don't have to invite you in?"

He rolled his eyes thoroughly and answered, irritated:

"Those vampire books and TV shows should really be banned. They are so ignorant, so lame..." He shook his head in disapproval.

"Would you like to educate me about real vampires, then?" I asked him and headed toward the kitchen to fix myself a cup of green tea, leaving my heavy bag on the chair.

Lawrence followed me slowly and stood by the kitchen door. I filled a cup with hot water from the sink and put it into the microwave, with one tea bag in it. I saw him look at the wall clock briefly and then heard his question:

"Are you sure you want to hear such things before going to sleep?"

"Trust me, my bookcase is full of worse things than those that I want to hear from you now," I answered.

"Didn't doubt that at all. Fan of the fang..." He sighed. "What do you have: Rice, Harris, Meyer, Smith or all of them?"

I pulled the steaming cup out from the microwave after its short beep and put two teaspoons of sugar in it.

"Rice and Harris," I replied, thinking about my book collection.

"Good. At least you have some taste," he said sarcastically.

I set the cup down when I burned myself and cursed quietly. Lawrence noticed and came closer to me, taking my hand and putting it under the cold running water from the sink spigot.

"Did you think that the cup from the microwave would be cold, silly?" he asked and smiled, just as I did. After a few moments, he stopped the water. "Do you want me to hold that hand for you a while?"

I knew how wonderfully cold his skin was and I nodded. I hated it when I burned myself. I could easier bear with a cut. When Lawrence held my hand, the burn hurt less and I relaxed. He picked up the cup in his other hand and asked me:

"Where will you have the tea?"

I pointed a finger to the sofa in the living room. We walked over and he put the cup down on the coffee table. We sat down, quite close to each other due to the fact that he still held my hand in his.

"You can start with the interrogation," he said and crossed his legs, his right ankle over his left knee. "But please, don't ask me if I sparkle, because if you do I'm gonna fly straight out."

I laughed before thinking what to ask first.

"Sunlight?" I asked.

"Haven't been exposed to it since 1789."

"So, it burns vampires?"

"Not exactly. Let's say that it destroys our skin, one layer after another. Melting would be the right word."

The picture in my head was disgusting and I asked a new question quickly, to make the image disappear:

"Does that mean you can get out during daylight if there is no sun?"

"Yes, I can. I always go out on rainy days."

"What about sleeping in coffins?"

"Only freaks sleep in coffins, if you ask me. I don't have one because I was never buried," he answered. "I sleep in a bed."

"Compulsion, glamour or whatever that thing is called, does it exist?" I asked.

"You know, that _thing_ is called charm. You have it or you don't have it," he said and shrugged his shoulders. "But no, TV show-style glamour or compulsion doesn't exist. I can't mind control you or anyone else."

"Garlic?" I mentioned.

"It stinks, doesn't it?"

I laughed. All the orthodox myths about vampires were going down in front of me.

"What about mirrors and shadows?" I asked.

"We have mirror reflection and we cast shadows. We are not ghosts, which, by the way, do not exist," he added when he saw that I wanted to ask if the ghosts were real too.

"How about crucifixes and holy water?"

"No effect," he said.

"Enhanced senses?"

"We have better vision than mortals, because we are night creatures by default. Reflexes are also improved. Everything else is the same," he explained.

I checked if my tea was still too hot for drinking, careful not to burn my tongue. It wasn't, so I sipped some of it. Although, it would have been interesting if Lawrence offered me his tongue to make my burn pain go away.

"Anything else you want to know?" He asked and I turned my glance from the cup to him.

"Um..." I thought, waiting to come up with a question. "Do your eyes turn gold or red when you feed?"

"None of that. They remain black as always."

"Were your eyes black when you were mortal, too?" I asked him and looked in his eyes more closely. They were completely black, with just a few traces of dark grey in them.

"Yes, they were as pitch black as they are now."

"How do you survive?" I asked, wanting to know if he killed humans regularly.

"You mean, what do I drink?" he asked. I nodded and he answered, "Hospital blood. I take three to four bags a week."

"They never notice or catch you?" I wondered.

"I'm too fast for them and too quiet to even get noticed. And I change hospitals each time I take blood."

"But if that's true, why did you kill that bum on Monday?"

He explained:

"I lost control over myself. First time after fifty years."

I looked at him. I could read the guilt in his eyes so I asked him another question to cheer him up:

"Can you read minds, predict the future or control other people's moods?"

"No," he answered and shook his head, being amused.

"Can you fly?"

"Yes."

"Wow!" I answered, excited as a little kid. "And what's it like?"

"It's the best thing about being a vampire," he answered.

"I believe you. It would be so cool if I could fly."

"I'll take you on a ride if you want," he offered.

"I'll keep that in mind."

I sipped some of my tea and he reminded me, with a chuckle:

"Don't burn yourself again."

"I won't," I said, chuckled and soon put the cup down. I took the remote control before asking:

"Would you mind if I just hear the news?"

"I wouldn't," he said.

I turned the TV on, searched through various channels and stopped when I ran into a news channel. It caught both Lawrence's and my attention after I turned the volume up. The picture was horrible, displaying dead victims. There was text at the bottom of the screen that said _"London Criminals Strike Again"_. When the text banner disappeared, the footage was reproduced, showing a boring female reporter speaking about new victims. One of them was thrown down from the London tower to the Themes and another had a cut throat with hardly any blood left inside her body. Both of them were women in their mid-forties. The pictures of the corpses were beyond horrible.

When I started shaking in fear, Lawrence gripped my burnt hand tighter and I asked him, with my eyes still fixed on the screen:

"Vampires did that, didn't they?"

When I turned to him, he nodded and lowered his look. I felt the same fear as on the night when I saw him the first time, the same realization going through my brain.

"I wish I could move away from this damn town. I'm so afraid," I said and felt the tears rolling down my cheeks.

"I'll keep you safe," he said, reassuring me.

"OK, but what about other mortals? Who is going to protect them?"

"Their brains. If they are smart, they won't go out in the dangerous part of the night. I cannot defend them all," he said.

I sighed deeply and asked the question that rang in my head:

"Why are you doing all this for me?"

He sighed while putting his words together and said:

"Because you remind me of my mortal life."

"How?"

"You remind me of my fiancée that I had when I was still mortal and somehow you make me behave in a more human way. I miss the mortal life and when I'm looking at you, I see something that prevents me from being an animal," he explained.

"So you like me, I guess?" I asked.

"Sort of," he admitted. "Although I shouldn't."

"Then why are you here with me?"

"I have no idea," he answered.

"Don't worry; I don't know why I want you here next to me either."

"You're trying to say that you like me too?" He repeated my words.

"Yes," I admitted. He let go of my burnt hand and asked me:

"Why?"

"You don't have to be Einstein to put two and two together," I said and chuckled.

"Oh, right," he replied and chuckled contently. "I almost forgot, you're a vampire fan. You surely think that I'm unique, rare, charming and handsome and... probably sexy. Wouldn't be the first time hearing that."

"Yep, you're all that," I admitted. "Plus I want to get to know you."

He looked at me without saying anything and after he looked away, he smiled sweetly.

"You have the Bella Swan complex, I guess," he said and chuckled.

"Do not compare me with that _Mary Sue_," I answered.

"So, you're not perfect?" he asked and added, "Not that I find _her_ perfect."

"I'm not even close to perfection."

"What would your flaws be? Except the obvious thoughtlessness?" he wondered and looked at me with sudden interest.

"You'll discover them eventually," I answered and winked at him. He smiled devilishly before asking me:

"You irresistible girl, what will we do about each other now?"

After realizing he just complimented me, I answered spontaneously:

"Hang around and see where it will take us."

"I guess we'll have to," he concluded. "For your good. And for mine."

We didn't kiss. I was too upset and something was wrong with him, too. We just sat by each other. I couldn't remember the last time sitting by someone in silence felt so pleasant until then. Suddenly, reality struck me hard.

"How could I forget...?" I murmured.

"What?" he asked.

"Tomorrow...It's the anniversary. My parents died tomorrow, fifteen years ago."

He didn't have anything to say, he just kept silent and held his arm around me to comfort me. I guess that he was thinking about his own parents, dead for such a long time.

"I would like to go to the cemetery tomorrow and visit them, but I'm too scared to go alone," I admitted.

"Which cemetery?" he asked.

"The main one."

"OK, I'll take you. I can't permit you to go there on your own at night."

"Thanks," I said and he pulled me into a hug.


	6. The Anniversary

_**A/N: **__This is an emotional chapter. So, um...Just review and tell me what you think :)_

**6. The anniversary**

Just as he promised, Lawrence waited for me in front of the museum the next day at eight to go to the cemetery. It was the seventh of March, a Wednesday. On this day fifteen years ago, I lost my parents forever.

That day and night were quite cold for the late winter so I had to pull out my black coat from the wardrobe again, after a relatively warm week during which I wore my dark brown faux leather jacket.

Before I arrived at the museum for work that day, I bought a flower bouquet and a box of Marlboro Lights. It was something I did on every anniversary. Someone might call it stupid, but it was my gift for my parents, wherever they were, although I knew that the flowers would lose their beauty soon and that the smokes would vanish, snatched by the weird teens who hung around the cemetery. The flowers were white roses, my mother's favorite, and the smokes were the same as the ones that my father used to buy while he was still alive.

As we walked through the screeching cemetery gate, I gripped Lawrence's hand tighter. He kept me close, walking just behind me in case someone should come out of nowhere. We spoke very little that night and honestly, I wasn't in the mood for chatting.

My memory of the exact location of my parents' graves was inerasable, permanent. They were right next to each other, in the eighteenth row, between the grave of the grandma I never got to meet and an aunt that died as a newborn.

I fell down on my knees as I stood in front of the two black marble gravestones. The engraved white names on the gravestones were Michael Ethan Crockwall and Lisa Padgetson Crockwall. My parents' portraits were the same as always - Mom with her long, thick chestnut hair with bangs and Dad with short hair, the same color as mine.

I started to cry. I felt Lawrence's footsteps begin to move away to give me some time alone but I called to him, without looking back:

"Please, don't leave me."

He came close to me again and put his hands on my shoulders. My feelings were as always when I remembered the faintest memories of my parents - sadness and grief, no matter how much time had passed by. I lost them forever and I missed them so much. The first tears rolled down my cheeks. I put the flowers and the cigarettes on the surface of the graves.

"There, I didn't forget about you," I said, talking to my parents, no matter where they were. "I'm still your little girl."

My private moment was interrupted when I suddenly heard something strange, like a fast train dashing right next to my ear. Before I was even aware of the situation, Lawrence had already reacted both for himself and for me.

I was pulled up on my feet again and placed behind Lawrence's back with my own back against the gravestone. Lawrence held his hands back to prevent me from moving away and he hissed at someone in front of him. When I moved my head a bit to the left to see who it was, there stood the perfect evidence that I would've gotten myself killed if I had gone to the cemetery alone that night.

It was another vampire, ugly and tacky, who was lower than Lawrence and older, according to his looks. He was bald and with awkward facial features. So it was also a myth that all vampires were handsome. They weren't.

The vampire licked his lips in a repulsive way that made me want to vomit, flashed his fangs at us and spoke:

"Would you share your dinner with me?"

I was shaking behind Lawrence and I hid my face in his back, holding him tightly in fear.

"She is not my _dinner_," Lawrence exclaimed after a vicious growl which came out from his throat and made his body tremble in motion with it. It scared me and made me feel safe at the same time, knowing that I wasn't going to get hurt.

"Well, then she shall be mine," the ugly vampire said. Before I knew it, everything was over. In a second, Lawrence had moved forward and staked the hungry vampire. The ugly vampire collapsed to the ground with the stake in his chest, blood running out from the wound and soaking the soil.

Lawrence came back to me after hiding the corpse behind a huge bush and said, his fangs still extended and shining under the moonlight:

"He's dead. The sun will finish him at dawn." He retracted the fangs and continued, "It would be better for us to leave before another idiot comes here."

I nodded. I was done with the cemetery and I really didn't want to encounter another vampire. Lawrence asked:

"Are we headed to your house or...?"

I thought his question through for a while and answered, not really feeling homesick:

"Do you have any other idea?"

"So you don't want to go home yet?"

"Not really. I know nothing special is waiting there."

"Wow, that's really cheerful," he said sarcastically. "Are you in the mood for a little, er, London sight-seeing?"

"Good idea."

"Will you pick the place or just let me surprise you?"

"Surprise me," I accepted.

"I think I'll take you on the ride that I promised you, right now."

"OK. Just don't drop me," I answered.

"Don't worry," he told me with a smile that couldn't be refused and picked me up in his arms, bridal style. I held him around his neck to be safer and he gave me one last instruction before the flight:

"Shut your eyes. It is better that way since this is your first flight."

I did what he asked me to do and soon I felt the night breeze more intensively. I figured out that we were flying. Sooner than I expected, he whispered in my ear:

"You can look now."

When I yanked my eyes open, we were on the roof of some building and I was still in his arms.

"Thanks for the ride," I said when he put me down on my feet and walked to the edge of the roof to see where we were. The only familiar building I could see was Buckingham Palace. "Nice view."

"This is one of my favorite places in London," Lawrence said and sat down on the edge, throwing his legs over it to hang in the air.

"You come here often?" I asked and stood next to him, not sitting down because the concrete was surely cold and one of the useful things I have learned is not to sit down on cold surfaces if you care about your health.

"Every now and then," he said and shrugged out of his coat, folded it before putting it next to him on the ledge and saying, "Sit."

I smiled at his gesture, kneeled and sat down, letting my feet hang in the air just like his.

"Thanks for the coat," I said.

"You're welcome. I know my mother always used to yell at Rosie to stand up when she used to sit down on cold ground."

"And Rosie was your sister, I guess?" I checked.

"Yes."

"You're not in the mood to talk about her, right?"

"No, I'm not," he said while looking into distance. When he turned to look at me he asked, "Are you feeling any better?"

"I'm still shaken up," I answered and opened my bag to find something that might be useful for stress.

"What you're looking for?"

"I'm one hundred percent sure I have a chocolate bar in here and I could use it now," I mused and pulled out a bar with hazelnuts, set my bag aside and opened the wrapping before asking casually like I forgot he was a vampire, "Want some?"

"Sure," Lawrence answered as I took a piece for myself.

"I'm sorry?" I checked if I had heard him right.

"I said sure. I want some."

I handed him the bar before eating my piece.

"Since when do vampires eat regular food?" I asked, confused.

"Since always," he answered simply as he chewed. "We don't need it, actually most of it is revolting to us."

"So, chocolate is not revolting to you?"

"It's not. I can also stand blueberries and fine liquor."

"Interesting," I said and we soon ate almost the whole bar with joy. "I never thought…"

"Never thought what?" he asked and fed me the last chocolate chunk left.

"That you could eat," I finished before chewing.

"You know what…" he started and wrapped his left hand around me. " I should really forbid you to read or possess any vampire books."

"And how are you going to do that?" I asked playfully.

"By hook or by crook."

"Well, I will obey, since I have my own vampire now."

"Who said I was yours?" he asked and chuckled.

_"I_ did," I exclaimed.

"Who said you get to make that decision?"

"Again, I did."

"Well, you don't. I'm not yours."

"I see I'll have to claim you," I said and pushed myself against him before kissing him earnestly. It felt like I was eating chocolate ice cream, because of his frosty mouth. After a while, he took the initiative and controlled our kiss, sucking my lower lip and tongue, holding me closely and intertwining his hand with my hair. He parted his lips from mine and I breathed in deep as he placed the last few kisses on my earlobe and cheek.

"I think _you_ were successfully claimed," he said contently.

I just smiled and kissed him once more. We sat there a little longer and then stood up before heading back to my house. When I opened my eyes after the flight, we were in front of my door. I used the opportunity before he set me down on my feet and asked:

"Can I ask you for one more thing?"

"Sure," he agreed before even knowing what I wanted.

"Take me to my room."

"Can't you walk alone?" he asked suspiciously.

"I don't want to," I answered and closed my eyes, feeling tired. I heard his chuckle and the following question:

"Am I supposed to barge in?"

"The keys are in my right pocket," I answered.

Soon, I felt his fingers inside my coat pocket, heard the sound of clinking keys and unlocking the door. We moved as smooth as we did while he flied with me in his arms.

"Where?" he asked me, not knowing where to go.

"Up the stairs and to the right," I directed him and soon I heard my doors squeal in a familiar way as he opened them. He took a few more steps and informed me:

"We're here."

"You're in a hurry?" I wondered.

He waved off with his head and said:

"No. But you need your sleep."

I snorted in discontent but he set me down on my feet. I pouted like a little kid and crossed my hands over my chest. I wanted him to stay; the time spent with him was usually the best part of my day. Night, actually.

"Why are you complaining?" he asked me.

"You always decide when to leave."

"So what? This is a free country. Don't be so childish," he said and touched my nose.

"Fine," I answered and walked past him to my wardrobe, took off my coat and walked towards the bathroom.

"I need to go now," he called to me.

"Well, go then," I called back and heard the window being opened then. As I held the toothpaste in my hand and prepared to squeeze some of it on the brush, Lawrence walked in and startled me.

"Sleep tight," he said and kissed me briefly before leaving.


	7. House Party

_**A/N: **__OK, so in the last chapter we heard Lawrence liked fine liquor. In this chapter, you'll see the proof for that. :)_

_Please review if you like this story, I really appreciate every opinion and each one of my lovely readers/reviewers :)_

_Enjoy reading! :)_

**7. ****House Party**

The next day was Friday, finally the end of the week. That morning I received a call from my foster-dad in Sweden, asking me how was I doing because of the anniversary. He announced he was coming to London around Easter to visit me and to spend a few days at home.

That morning I also went to get a haircut. My old hairstyle bored me to death and it was starting to be impossible to handle my stubborn hair. I didn't go to school that day because I was simply not in the mood for it. The PMS didn't help, either. At one moment, I felt so depressed I wanted to cry, in the next I wanted to beat the hell out of someone. Then I just smiled without a particular reason. I was changing moods like socks.

The hairdresser did a good job with trimming the split ends of my hair and giving it a new shape by adding some layers. I felt good while looking at myself in the mirror. That was just what I needed to cheer up a little - to do something for myself. As I started going towards the museum, being just a block away from it, I called Stacie to check what happened that day in class.

"Hey, Stacie!" I greeted her warmly.

She answered, in a hurry:

"Hey! Ditching again?"

"Yes, I needed to get a haircut."

"So, you are preparing yourself for someone. That mysterious guy?"

I smiled and answered:

"No, I was doing it for myself."

"Whatever…" Stacie sighed. "Will you go out tonight?"

"No, I think I won't...Maybe tomorrow."

"OK, if you change your mind, call me and we'll go together."

"Deal."

"Hey! I almost forgot to tell you."

"What?"

"Matt asked me about you today," she mentioned.

"And why exactly are you telling me that?"

"I thought you would…"

"No, I didn't want to know."

"Sorry," she apologized.

"Forget about it. Bye now."

"Bye."

She hung up and soon I entered the museum. Frederick noticed my arrival and told me:

"Crockwall, you have a special errand today."

I wondered what he had in plan for me.

"What is it, sir?" I asked.

"You're good with computers and recently my computer is running really slow. Could you reinstall the OS?"

"Sure. Did you back up your data?"

"Yes, it's all safe. The installation disc is on my table in the office, next to all the hardware drivers. Have fun."

It was a pleasant surprise for me - to do something other than the usual typing, sending the same boring e-mails to hundreds of addresses and printing tickets for the museum.

I needed quite a lot of time to finish my task and when I was done, it was almost the end of my shift. The shortest work day since ever.

When I got out, there was an unwelcome scene in front of me. Near the museum door was my ex, Matt. Lawrence was on the same bench across the street as every night sitting and waiting for me. It was an awkward situation that had a full potential to turn into a disaster; men and their possessive behavior.

"Anne!" Matt said and threw his cigarette down to step on it. His shoulder-length hair waved in the wind. I ignored him briefly and waved to Lawrence, motioning him to wait until I finished my talk with Matt.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded. We broke up two months ago after he cheated on me, but still he was trying to get me back again. He still called me regularly, though I ignored each his call and the cheesy e-mails that I deleted on sight.

"I needed to see you. I need you. I'm falling apart, Anne," he said and looked at me intensely.

"So was I, when you cheated on me." I said, feeling the heartache.

"I'm so sorry. If I only knew she wasn't worth it…" He started but I cut him off:

"That's your problem now," I told him. "I'm nobody's fool."

I started to move away from him to go to Lawrence but he stopped me, grabbing my wrist tightly.

"Please," he repeated. Lawrence stood up, his face stern and fixated on Matt as he continued talking, "I'm begging you."

He gripped my wrist tighter and it hurt.

"You are drunk or high, Matt. Or both," I told him, looking at his wide pupils. "Let go of me!"

I tried to tear my hand out from his as Lawrence came up behind him and said:

"You heard her."

Matt turned back with a confused expression on his face to ask:

"And who are you, dude?"

"He is my boyfriend," I answered, using the opportunity when his grip loosened to free my wrist. Lawrence didn't say anything to deny or confirm my lie.

"Really?" Matt asked. "You didn't need a lot of time to find another one, right?"

"Shut up. It's been two months since we broke up. What did you expect from me; to go to the monastery?"

"Do you know what the correct name for women like you is?" He asked me furiously. "Whore."

I slapped him hard and moved away, pulling Lawrence by his hand right after me, in order to prevent him from doing something stupid. It was a good thing to do because he looked quite pissed off after hearing Matt's words.

"Feel free to forget that I'm alive," I called back furiously at Matt, who was probably rubbing his cheek.

When we came to my home, I pulled Lawrence inside with me and told him:

"Don't go. Don't leave me alone now."

I took my coat off, threw it over an armchair in the living room and began to cry. I sat on the sofa feeling miserable and put my face in my hands. Lawrence asked me, his voice pleasantly soft:

"What's wrong?"

"Everything," I blurted out between two sobs. My hormones had already been messed up before hearing Matt's insult and after that, I was just too pathetic.

"You're crying because of that asshole, aren't you?" Lawrence guessed and I nodded. "Anne, look at me."

I heard his words but I didn't want to. I wondered how Matt could say anything like that to me, after everything we'd been through during our relationship.

"Look at me," he repeated.

"No," I said, but he kneeled in front of me and pulled my hands from my face.

"Listen to me," he told me, looking into my eyes. "I don't know anything about your past relationship with that guy, but I'm sure that he is not worth any of your tears."

I kept silent, the tears still dripping down my cheeks against my will.

"Stop crying," he ordered me.

"I can't," I answered sincerely.

"Please," he said and held my face, wiping my tears away with his thumbs. I sat there for a while, observing his troubled face in front of me while he was probably trying to come up with an idea of how to make me stop crying. Suddenly, I got up and told him:

"I need a drink."

I wasn't talking about soft drinks. No, I thought about the unopened bottle of _Jack Daniel's_ down in the kitchen cabinet. I went down the stairs, took the bottle out, got myself a glass and poured. When the first sips burned my throat, Lawrence was next to me.

"So, you are going to get hammered," he realized and eyed me skeptically.

I drank the glass down and answered:

"Yes, I am. Join me or shut up."

I left the kitchen, carrying the bottle back to my room. I expected Lawrence to try to stop me. He just followed me. I wasn't sad anymore; I was pissed off. Who the hell was Matt or anyone else to bring my morals into question?

I popped a CD with my favorite music into the CD player and pressed play on the remote control. On the CD, there were only aggressive rock and metal songs, perfect for my current emotions. I looked at Lawrence, who stood by the door, looking puzzled; wondering if he should leave me or not, I guess.

"Get over here," I told him, not wanting to be alone. He tightened his look but came to me, taking his coat off on his way.

He took the bottle away from me and drank some of the whiskey. It didn't surprise me, I remembered what he had told me last night - that he liked fine liquor. When I wanted to take the bottle back, he said:

"He's not worth you getting drunk."

"I need it," I told him and tried to tear the bottle away from his grip. He simply held it behind his back, out of my reach. I protested, "I need it, Lawrence!"

"Alcohol doesn't solve problems," he said and still kept the bottle away from me.

"So why did you drink?" I asked him.

"Because I have real issues, unlike you," he answered and gulped some more whiskey.

"So let's drink, dance and forget about all the shit that's bothering us," I suggested to him. He eyed me and cocked his eyebrow up. After rolling his eyes, he poured some whiskey into my glass. Not as much as I wanted, but enough for a few good sips. I drank instantly.

"Sounds good to me," he accepted my plan and gulped a few mouthfuls from the bottle.

The song that was on was great and I began dancing, waving with my hair. Lawrence joined me, his dance moves similar to mine, having fun just as I was. I didn't even think about crying anymore, Matt didn't exist, neither did the rest of my problems. The whiskey started to take effect; heating me up and making me slightly dizzy.

"So, what are your issues?" I asked him when the song ended.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked me and drank. After wiping his mouth, he continued, "I'm a freaking vampire! Where do I even start?"

"From the beginning?"

"No shit, Captain Obvious!"

"Oh, come on..."

"Let's see...Surviving on blood, not being able to enjoy the sun, having no family...Not being able to have kids in addition to all that, plus having the body temperature of a snake."

I stood there and looked at him. When he gave me some more whiskey, I admitted:

"Whoa...It seems you're more troubled than me."

"I told you. I mean, I'm not saying that being an orphan and having an ex which was a cheater is easy but..."

"I get it. You're right," I said and lowered my look for no special reason, feeling another mood change.

"Hey," he said and lifted my chin up with his finger. "Remember what you said? Let's forget all the shit that's bothering us. And don't even think about crying, you hear me?"

After less than an hour, the bottle was empty, drained by both of us. But we kept partying and goofing around my room until four AM, I think. The dancing became steamy, dirty-dancing style; anything but innocent.

I was the first one to sit down on the bed, feeling my legs giving up on the idea of standing. Lawrence was drunk as well, but it had less effect on him than on me. He sat next to me and we looked at each other. I was drunk but I wanted him so much. Also, I was sure we had the same looks in our eyes, wanting the same. He simply pulled me up on his lap and we starting making out.

He held me on a distance for a moment when he asked me:

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Positive."

"Don't complain to me later if we do anything stupid, OK?"

"Yep. Now kiss me, what are you waiting for?"

I didn't have to say that twice. He started kissing me again before I stripped his shirt off.


	8. Rise And Shine

_**A/N: **__As we all know, after every drunk night there comes a morning marked with hangover and sobering up :D Let's see how my protagonists are dealing with it :)_

_Review if you got an opinion to share :D_

**8. Rise And Shine**

Next day around noon, I finally woke up. I needed a lot of time to realize what was going on. My memory of the night before was a total blur; the last thing I remembered was the empty whiskey bottle. Well, that explained the massive headache I felt and my inability to open my eyes widely. I looked around my room. Something was wrong. The room was supposed to be bright, filled with sunrays as every morning, but it was almost completely dark - the only source of light coming through the slightly opened bathroom door where the light bulb was still on, for God knows how many hours.

The incoming electricity bill was not my main worry at that moment. Instead, I forced myself to remember anything from last night. It didn't work. Then, I wondered why the bed beneath me was so bumpy and so cold. I patted the bed with my hands, my eyes closed. On the right side, it was empty. On the left side, there was also nothing. Obviously, I was lying in the middle.

I started patting the space beyond me. First, I traced two smooth and cold things, going left and right. Then, I traced something between them, just as smooth and cold. Soon, I felt that something sharp was tickling my cheek and something cold blowing against my ear.

In one moment, everything became completely clear to me. The two things going left and right were Lawrence's arms, the thing between was his back and the sharp, tickling thing on my face was his hair. The cold breeze on my ear was his breath. I was lying on his shirtless back in my bed, my face next to his on my pillow.

I patted my legs and realized that my jeans were gone; I wore my black female boxers only. My shirt was still on me, just as my bra, which was good. My socks were also gone, probably lying down on the floor next to the jeans.

"Shit," I mumbled and moaned in pain, feeling the headache again. I was too hung over to get up, so I stayed on Lawrence's back.

Soon, he stirred beyond me a little and mumbled something incoherently. Then, he reached around with his right hand and eventually patted my legs and butt. He asked me, barely audible:

"What are you doing in my bed?"

I chuckled. My head hurt so I answered quietly:

"My bed."

"Shit," he commented just as I had before, his head still on my pillow. He pulled me down from his back next to him with his right hand. I opened my eyes as he did, too.

"We had a party?" He asked and looked down to see what we were wearing.

"Our friend Jack hooked us up," I said and chuckled, just as he did. Bad idea. My head hurt even more when I spoke or even laughed.

"I don't know when was the last time I got this wasted," he commented and turned himself to face me. I did the same to face him and added:

"Me neither."

I couldn't help myself but to look down at his half naked body. His pants were black and quite low; his perfect torso displayed to me in its full magnificence for the first time. I blushed, remembering our making out last night, just stopping short of sex. I felt his finger under my chin making me look up.

"What is it?" He asked me after a deep sigh. I realized he had just caught me checking him out and I blushed.

"Except for the fact that we're both half-naked in my bed, nothing," I explained and smiled sheepishly.

"Did we do anything?" He asked me, smiling and touching my half-unbuttoned shirt that displayed my black bra.

"I have no idea."

"I guess not," he concluded after checking my neck with his hand, looking for potential bite marks. "Did you plan this?"

His sudden question confused me. I asked:

"Did I plan what?"

"To hold me prisoner here today."

I realized it was day outside and he couldn't go out from my house until sunset.

"No…" I said sincerely. "We got drunk and…"

"I know," he said and brought his face closer to mine. "Things went wild."

As he said that, I remembered how I had acted last night: how we danced, drank, started kissing and eventually crashed into my bed and started undressing.

"I'm so embarrassed," I said while face palming in shame.

"You don't have to be," he told me. "Compared to some things that I have done during my life while I was drunk, this is nothing. Trust me."

"Why did you drink with me?"

"I told you - I like fine liquor. And I couldn't allow you to drink the whole bottle alone and wreck yourself. You weren't going to stop at drinking just one glass."

"Did I…Did I take your shirt off?" I asked.

"Can't remember," he answered. "But I think I'm starting to realize what your flaws are, missy."

"Really? Let's see if you got them right."

"OK...You're..." he said and thought for a while before continuing, "a _naughty _chocoholic that gets drunk easily."

"Let's say you're right," I said and smiled.

"Oh, I know I'm right," he said and we both laughed quietly.

"I'm so hung over…" I complained and took my face into my hands.

"You'll take a shower, and then we'll fix you an Aspirin and a coffee. After that, you'll be like new."

"Easy to say…I can't get up."

He stood up swiftly and picked me up in his arms. Then he carried me into the bathroom. At the door, we both peered through almost completely closed eyes until they adjusted themselves to the bright light. When we could bear to look with our eyes open, he set me down on my feet, kissed me lightly and left.

Making myself decent took a lot of time, since I was hung over, clumsy and fighting against the headache at the same time. I was so numb that I almost washed my hair with the depilatory cream and once I had finished washing myself, I almost tripped and fell down on the floor. Brushing my teeth was also a challenging task and I solemnly swore to myself that I was never going to get drunk again.

I got back to my room, dressed in my bathrobe and with my hair rolled up in a towel. Lawrence was lying on my bed, still shirtless. The light was turned on and he asked me, pointing at the window:

"Would you check if there is any sun?"

I peered behind the thick curtains, which we pulled against the window last night, and saw that it was sunny outside as if it was summer.

"Yes, plenty," I answered.

"So, I have to stay here," he sighed.

"You're saying that like this is a prison and not my house," I noticed.

"Nah, I didn't mean that," he told me and got up. "This is just awkward to me."

"Don't worry, I'll try to keep you good company," I said, smiled and pecked his cheek. We tumbled down to the kitchen and I sat down by the table.

"Let's wake you up, shall we?" He asked me and started looking around the kitchen, obviously searching for something.

"You looking for something?"

"Coffee for you."

"First upper cabinet on the left," I answered lazily and yawned. He nodded and found the coffee can before making me a cup of coffee without any difficulties. As I watched him, I wondered:

"You can make coffee?"

"Yep. But I avoid drinking it. It makes me way too energized."

Soon, he gave me a cup full of steaming hot coffee after sipping a bit to check the taste.

"Aspirin?"

"There," I said and pointed to one drawer in the corner. He got one pill for me before sitting next to me and put it on the table.

"Hungry?"

"Not really, I'm just terribly thirsty," I said and put on a discontent expression before swallowing the Aspirin.

"It's because you're dehydrated."

"What are you, a hangover-chase away doctor?"

"Sort of," he said and laughed. "I got drunk so many times that I became an expert for sobering up."

Somewhere around four PM, I finally started to feel sober. I went up to my room where Lawrence was trying to amuse himself. I felt somehow guilty, because he had to stay in my house during the day because of me. I noticed:

"I see that you're bored to death."

"Was that supposed to be funny or?" He acted as if he was insulted. I realized what I'd said. Then, he laughed to himself and said, "Just kidding."

"What would you like to do, then?" I asked. He glanced around my room and eventually stopped at my laptop.

"Would you allow me to check this out?" He touched the sleek aluminum back of my laptop.

"Sure."

He turned it on and after I typed the password in, I sat by him in case something went wrong, but it didn't. Lawrence knew everything. At least my wallpaper was something decent, a tropical resort with palm trees and stuff, and not a screenshot from TrueBlood or The Vampire Diaries as usual.

First, Lawrence searched through my music folder and got me by surprise when he recognized most of the songs I had there.

He played one song by Nirvana and I asked him, my mouth yanked open:

"Did you ever see them perform live?"

He nodded and said:

"Oh, yeah. Twice." After that, he hummed along with the song and I chuckled.

He asked me, confused, "What?"

"It's just that..." I said and burst into laughter. "I would expect you to be a Beethoven, Bach or, I don't know, Beatles fan but here you are...Listening to grunge and humming along."

He shook his head and smiled.

"I always hated classical music. And the Beatles," he said. "You know, I'm sorry I couldn't react in time when Cobain killed himself. It was a great loss for the music world."

"What, would you have made him a vampire if you could?"

"I would..." he said and then browsed for other songs." I think he would have made an excellent one."

He stopped at the Guns n' Roses folder. Soon, he played _"Paradise City"_. This time, he sang along loudly. He got up, took my hands and spun me around. I told him, feeling that I was going to throw up again if we didn't stop that instant:

"Stop doing that."

"What?" he asked me and smiled childishly. "Having fun?"

"No..." I said and went to sit down on my bed. "Making me dizzy."

"The hangover is a bitch, baby," he sighed and sat next to me. "Keep that in mind the next time you intend to get drunk."

I put my head on his shoulder. A sudden thought crossed my always-curious mind and I asked him:

"How come you haven't told me anything about your past?"

"My past?" He repeated. "I've told you some things, haven't I?"

"Well, not all of it. Would you share it with me now, since we have nothing better to do?"

"Ahem..." he cleared his throat before asking, "Which part are you interested in?"

"Your mortal life and becoming a vampire?"

"Long story..." He warned me. I sank my head to his lap, lifted my legs on the bed and said:

"We have plenty of time, don't we?"

He nodded and started telling me his story:

"Let me take you back to 1789, January twelfth..."


	9. Cardiff, 1789

_**A/N: **__This is flashback chapter number one; written from Lawrence's perspective or P.O.V. There will be two more such chapters. I hope you'll like them. I know I do. :)  
_

_Please, review :)_

**9. Cardiff, 1789.**

As always after a drunken Saturday night spent in a local pub with a couple of my best friends, who were always ready to get wasted just as I was back then, I lay drunk in my bed. I stuffed my head, which ached like hell, under the pillow to reduce the noise and tried to fall asleep again. It was noon, but I didn't care. There was nothing important for me to do that day so I could stay in bed all day if I wanted.

The hangover and the headache were a good enough reason for me not to get up and go down to the living room. My mother was surely making noise with the dishes, edgy because of my always-smashed father who constantly yelled and stank of the cheapest beer and rum. Another reason was my younger sister Rosie, a twelve year old spoiled brat who was surely doing something stupid downstairs to catch Mother's attention, such as trying to swallow a spoon or skiing down the stairs on a washing board. I loved her as much as an older brother can love his little sister but sometimes she was a real pain in the ass.

My room was a typical one for a student and overflowing with books. There was a bed that I had already outgrown, a huge writing table full of books, notebooks and pens, a chair next to it, and a mid-range sized wardrobe. The wall held a huge bookshelf, as wide as the whole room. It contained both books and unnecessary things that were only gathering the dust but I was too lazy to get rid of them.

I was a twenty-five year old law student, so studying and sleeping were the main parts of my everyday workweek routine. Nights on which I drank were reserved for the weekends and not for every day, as they were for my low-life father.

From the very beginning of my education, after serving in the military for Mother England, I dedicated myself completely, passing all the exams in time, never failing. My goal was to accomplish more than the shallow and empty life that my family was living, to marry my gorgeous fiancée Natalie and to leave Cardiff with her to start my own life in London or at least Manchester.

The blessed silence during my hangover didn't last for too long. No, in our house it was a miracle if there wasn't someone yelling for five whole minutes - that's how dysfunctional we were. While my head was still under the pillow, suddenly someone barged through my door, opening it with such force that they collided with the wall and probably broke a good piece of it down with the door handle. When the door was shut again, the whole house trembled out of the force.

"Get the fuck out of here!" I mumbled half audibly, guessing that the person who had just come in was my father. For three years now we hadn't talked to each other without shouting. I cursed myself for forgetting to lock the door when I came back home that morning at five o'clock.

Instead of my father's yelling and shouting, I heard quiet little sobs. I lifted my head up from under the pillow automatically and saw that the person who was leaning her back against my closed door was little Rosie.

"Come here," I told her and widened my arms to give her a hug, looking at her with my eyes half opened. I knew something wrong had to be happening downstairs. "Don't cry."

She obeyed me right away, sniffed and ran to me, pushed herself in my embrace and continued sobbing softly. I sighed lazily and noticed the alcohol stench coming from my mouth. It was so strong that it could knock down a horse. I stroked Rosie's sleek black hair, which was the same shade of black as mine, and tied up into a ponytail.

"What happened?" I asked her, although I had a hunch what was going to be her answer.

"Dad is shouting again."

That wasn't enough to make Rosie cry. She knew very well that shouting was a usual thing in our house. She had become used to it. Sad but true.

"What else?" I demanded, lifting her head up by keeping my index finger under her small chin to force her to look into my eyes. That way, she couldn't lie to me. She didn't know how.

"He...He hit her," she admitted, with her voice extra low. That was it. I had had enough. I could tolerate many, many things coming from my father, but not domestic violence.

Since I fell asleep after coming home from the pub all dressed up, in my pants and shirt, I didn't have to waste time getting my clothes on. I got up from the bed instantly, took Rosie by the hand to guide her out of my room and told her:

"To your room. Now."

She did as I told her, entering her small room next to mine and closing the door after her. Then, I launched myself downstairs to the living room. Things hadn't improved since Rosie came upstairs and left my parents alone. Au contraire. As my father raised his hand to hit my mother again I came up next to him. I gripped my father's wrist and threatened him:

"Don't dare to do that."

"W...What?" the old man mumbled because he was once again drunk and then tried to tear his wrist away from my grip. He couldn't. I was too strong and he was too clumsy due to his drunkenness.

"You heard me," I said and continued, "Three years ago I told you that I wouldn't allow you to do this kind of shit ever again but here you are. Beating someone weaker than yourself. What, you don't dare to beat me anymore?"

He looked at me with his bloodshot eyes.

"Come on, try," I teased. "Let's see who'll pull out the thicker end."

"Lawrence, don't talk that way with your father," my mother warned me, fighting against her tears.

"Mother, please. Don't defend him. He isn't worth it."

"And who are you to say that, you useless brat?" my father asked me. "You should have already gotten yourself a job to earn money for your family, instead of useless studying and smooching around with that girl that is never going to become your wife."

I rolled my eyes.

"Speaking of which...Why aren't you working somewhere? You are the father, not me; you're the one who's supposed to earn our living. I'm not the one who has been sitting here at home for four years, drowning his desperation in beer and not searching for a new job. I want to succeed in my life, not to be a low-life like you."

I let his wrist go, feeling disgusted for even standing in the same room with him.

"Lawrence, apologize!" My mother ordered me, with her hands on her hips.

"I won't. And you? Do you really like your life to be like this? Having nothing, no self-respect, hearing his insults every two minutes?"

"When you grow old one day, you'll know that things cannot always be perfect, son," she said.

"No, but they can at least be NORMAL," I yelled. "I'm sick of you two. If you want, kill each other. I don't give a damn. Just don't let Rosie suffer because of you."

I went up to my room and shut the door loudly, even louder than Rosie had earlier that day.

I needed a bath to calm my nerves and to wash the drunkenness away, if that was even possible. I went to the bathroom, took my clothes off and soaked my body in the mild water. I shampooed my hair, which was a dark mess as always in the morning, jumbled and twisted up in all directions. I brushed my teeth but the alcohol stench was still there.

When I came back to my room, I sat on the bed. I wore only a big towel around my waist and the room was chilly. I trembled, but not because of coldness. It was because of all the anger that was waiting to burst out of me. I knew that there was only one person at that moment that would be able to calm me down: my sweet Natalie.

After getting my hair dry and decent, I pulled out some clothes from the wardrobe; a light blue shirt with long sleeves, black pants and black shoulder straps. I pulled all that on, then got my shoes and coat and went out from the house. No one tried to speak to me. Instead of the yelling there was a complete silence in the house. Maybe self-recognition was hitting my parents, my recent words reaching their brains.

Natalie's house was two blocks away from mine. It had a petroleum-blue facade, two levels and a big yard with a brown collie in it. The Phillips' were a richer family than mine, due to the fact that Natalie's father was a local doctor. He didn't particularly like the fact that Natalie and I were in a relationship and that there was a big possibility that she was going to marry me - a poor law student, and not some rich bachelor from the upper class.

When I arrived in front of the fence around the Phillips' house and yard, I crouched and picked a few little rocks. I threw one of them at the second window on the second level and it flicked against the glass. I threw another one and after that, the curtains moved aside, showing Natalie's nice face and blonde hair. I gestured to her to come down and she nodded. Then, the curtains went back to their original position.

After a few moments, she walked out; leaned over the low fence and I held her in my arms. Oh, how good that felt...With my lips in her hair, I said:

"I don't know who else can understand me now..."

She lifted her head up, looked at me with her brilliant eyes and asked me, although she knew what was happening:

"Family problems again?"

"Yes," I sighed. "I can't wait to move out."

"Well, it will be soon. And you're taking me with you, aren't you?" She asked me.

"Sure. There is too little for someone like you in this town."

We eventually kissed. After parting my lips from hers, she asked me:

"You were drunk again?"

"Well, yes."

"Lawrence, when are you going to stop acting like an infant and actually grow up?" She asked and smiled at me.

"Soon," I answered. "Are you free this afternoon?"

Her front door opened and her mom stepped out on the porch, wearing a housedress and an apron, obviously busy in the kitchen. I addressed her:

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Phillips."

She smiled and said:

"You too, Lawrence." Then she looked at Natalie and said, "Natty, I could use your help with the biscuits."

"Coming, mom," Natalie said and pecked me briefly on the lips. "Sorry, I'm busy."

"Lawrence, you can come in if you would like to," her mom offered. "Thomas is at work."

"I would love to," I accepted the invitation and Natalie guided me inside, holding my hand. A pure domestic atmosphere was just the thing that I needed at the time, just as Natalie's companionship.


	10. How It All Started

_**A/N:**__ Flashback chapter number two, again written from Lawrence's point of view._

_Enjoy reading, please review and tell me what you think :)_

**10. How It All S****tarted**

I looked down at Anne, who was lying with her head in my lap, her hair spread around. I asked her:

"Would you like me to make a pause?" I thought that maybe she was thirsty, hungry or something like that.

"Only if you need it," she answered and caressed my hand that was on her stomach. "The story is too interesting."

"Then I'll continue," I said and forced myself to remember what happened after I came into Natalie's house:

So, I entered the house with Mrs. Phillips and Natalie, coming after them into the kitchen. Natalie joined her mother in making the aforementioned cookies. Before I decided to sit down next to the dining table, I saw Natalie's nephew in the cradle. It was John, Natalie's brother's ten month old son; the elder Phillips watched him during the weekends.

"Can I hold this little fellow?" I asked while reaching for him.

"Sure, darling," Natalie's mom approved. "Just be careful."

I took my coat off and took little John out from the cradle into my arms and held him cautiously. It was such a strange feeling. I thought how one day I was going to have a baby like the one that I held and my expression softened. I sat down, still holding the baby.

"Would you like some tea?" Natalie asked me, obviously liking the sight of me holding a baby. She smiled warmly. I returned her a smile and answered:

"Sure."

She fixed me a cup of mint tea. When I finished it and one freshly baked cookie straight from the oven, the baby was again asleep. Natalie winked at me after setting little John back in his cradle and asked her mother:

"Mother, I need to show something to Lawrence upstairs. May I?"

Her mother cleared her throat and answered:

"Keep the door of your room opened."

Natalie chuckled along with me and we went upstairs. Her family were traditional Catholics and they did not approve of making love before marriage. Natalie had that mentality, too, and although on a few occasions I had almost managed to break her resistance, we had never done anything else other than some intense making out.

When we entered her room, I teased her:

"What did you want to show me?"

"A new garment," she said, then winked at me and closed the door despite her mother's order to leave it open. She went to her wardrobe and pulled out a corset with some kind of flower pattern all over it.

"Are you going to try it on?" I asked and smiled, holding my breath.

"Well, I might," she said devilishly and started undoing her dress.

She came closer and kissed me fiercely. We made out for some time, while I was slowly unbuttoning her fuchsia dress. I cupped her breast and she moaned. I paid some attention to her neck, feeling her quick pulse.

We weren't aware at all that someone had opened the door until we heard a rough male voice thundering at me:

"Hashbury! Get your hands off of my daughter!"

I didn't have to look back to know who was at the door. I took my hands off Natalie, who was panting for air, and I turned away from her, shielding her so that she could get dressed again. Her moves were hysterically fast. Obviously, Mr. Phillips was not at work as we were told.

"Don't hide her! I know you almost took her clothes off! Now, get out and never come back again!" He shouted and dragged me out of the room, pushing me towards the stairs. As I was walking down, I heard his words for Natalie:

"You immoral little slut! I'm sending you to the monastery first thing tomorrow! Things are getting out of control with you! This is not how a decent lady acts!"

I went into the kitchen where Natalie's mom was still kneading the dough for the biscuits, not paying attention to the things that were happening at all. I didn't miss the chance to say what I wanted:

"Thomas is at work," I mocked her words with my voice bitter. "Thanks, Mrs. Phillips. I really appreciate it."

She kept silent as I picked up my coat and went out furiously, before hearing more yelling from a father who was worried because he had finally realized that his daughter wasn't an innocent little girl who played with her dolls anymore. For God's sake, Natalie was only two years younger than me. What did he expect; that she and I were only holding hands during our almost two-year relationship?

Outside in the street, I glanced at Natalie's window. She was standing there, crying out loud, her palm on the glass reaching for me. I held back my breath to keep myself from letting out my own tears and yelled:

"I love you!"

The whole street echoed my words and a few neighbors came out to see what had happened. Natalie smiled lightly and disappeared behind the curtains.

I went home, although I had a strong intention to get drunk again, out of desperation. I knew that Natalie's dad was going to do what he said he would and send her to become a nun. I had to figure out what I would do, how I could keep her with me. I had lots of ideas, including running away from Cardiff with her.

When I came back home, there was still almost complete silence. I checked how Rosie was. She was having her afternoon nap, probably after crying herself to sleep after the incident earlier that day. It was just four o'clock. I decided to sleep too, and erase the hangover leftovers.

When I woke up, it was eight PM. I left my room after changing my clothes, ate some dinner fast and headed out the door, saying farewell to my mother briefly and completely ignoring my father before going to the pub.

My old friends were there again and we hung out until two in the morning, drinking, laughing and playing black jack. When I eventually departed from there, my vision was a damn blur. I wandered around, having multiplied eyesight - sometimes double, sometimes triple.

At one corner next to the post office, where I had to turn right to get home and not left as I did, I threw up. The taste was disgusting. We guys had mixed every available alcoholic beverage that night - cheap beer, whiskey, rum, vodka, gin and a single shot of expensive cognac, just to give ourselves the feeling that we were rich. We were celebrating Mitch's birthday.

So, I turned the wrong way and I wondered why my yard had weird stones all around it, with engraved names and dried up flowers beneath them. I didn't realize I had ended up in the local cemetery. I fell asleep under a gravestone, with my back leaning against it.

I was awakened forcefully, feeling an unbearable pain in my neck, as if someone was cutting my skin with a sharp knife. I felt my blood running out from the wound and I passed out, losing any consciousness I had had until then. But before that, I saw my whole life flashing before my eyes. Pathetic, I know; but that's how it was. All my memories, my whole childhood, my teenage years and recent college years, everything replayed again.

I couldn't open my eyes until I felt something warm and salty dripping into my mouth. No, not something: it was blood.

When I yanked my eyes open, I saw a black haired, pale woman with strangely extended fangs above me. Her wrist was bleeding into my mouth. After some time, she removed it from above my lips and disappeared as if she had never been there, leaving me alone.

I lay on the grave for some more time and then felt the pain in my stomach. I gripped it with my hands. It felt like I was being crushed by a huge boulder. Something inside of me, a newborn instinct, made me crawl into the cemetery shed, where the gravediggers kept their shovels and other tools. I shut the door behind me and collapsed to the cold floor, fainting again.

I woke up the next day, according to the little sun ray that was flashing through one crack in the shed's wall. I wished I had a revolver or something similar by my side to end my suffering.

The pain was excruciating, insufferable, ghastly. It felt like something was stirring up the organs and the flesh inside of me, rearranging them into a new, twisted form. The pain caught one piece of my body after another, my toes first, then feet, ankles, legs, knees, groin, torso, chest, arms, shoulders, neck and finally head. As it left one piece and continued to another, it left the first one cold as marble, lifeless. I don't know how many hours was I inside the shed, panting in pain, rolling and kneeling on the floor.

When the aching wave arrived at my head, I wanted to break it, to smash the shed's wall with it or to do anything else to put me out of my misery. My jaw suffered most of all, my teeth constantly clenching and grinding against each other. I felt like my front teeth were going to burst into dust. With my eyes closed, I saw vivid colors underneath my tightly shut eyelids, as if I was looking at a rainbow.

The whole time, I was almost completely silent. I hadn't screamed, not even once, although I needed to. It was as if some hidden instinct within me was instructing me not to draw any attention from the outside and endanger myself that way. Instead of yelling and screaming, I was sinking my teeth into my clenched fist constantly. Unexpectedly, a very awkward thing happened.

Before I was even aware of it, I felt fangs extend inside my mouth. Yes, I managed to bite my own tongue, drawing some blood out of it and making me shout. Then the fangs grazed the skin on the fist that I had been biting, a few drops of blood coming out from the fresh wound.

A few seconds after removing my fist from my teeth, it healed and there was nothing that showed that it had been bitten a moment before, except a blood trace.

Instantly, everything became as obvious as clear water. I realized what I had become, although it seemed impossible. Vampires were sometimes mentioned back then. No one I knew ever saw them but people did a lot of things to protect their dead, who were at the greatest risk of becoming a vampire. There were many things that people did to prevent a dead man from becoming a bloodsucker, such as putting a brick or a coin in his mouth, pouring boiling water over the grave, burying sharp objects in the grave with him and so on. Although the Church did not approve of these acts, people did them all the time, believing in old folklore stories.

I had always thought those stories and rituals were nonsense. If someone dies, that's it. There is nothing after death, especially not becoming a vampire, just rotting or maybe something else; I can't tell until I see it. I didn't believe in vampires. Besides, I hadn't died. I couldn't become a vampire. Wait; what...

I remembered. I had died. I was dead between two events – being drained of my blood and being fed by that pale bitch in the cemetery. The blankness between those two things was my death, not unconsciousness.

I stood up, dazed by the smooth movements of my improved reflexes. My once damaged eyesight from all the reading and studying became clear again. I could see perfectly. I opened the shed's door and regretted doing so right away as I stepped into the sunlight. My skin started decomposing, one layer after another. No one was outside in the cemetery, which was good. In another too confusing move, I closed the door at inhuman speed. I started healing right away.

The real problems started after sunset. I felt an insufferable thirst that burned my throat, as if I had eaten nothing but salt for a week. I abandoned the shed, this time without being melted down, and searched for water. As I drank some from the pipe next to the cemetery's gate, I spat it out from my mouth as if it were acid or poison. Water wasn't the fluid that my body yearned for.

I knew that I needed blood. I had to get out of Cardiff because I could never forgive myself if I harmed anyone from there. I knew almost every person back there. Cardiff was not as huge as London is now, where you barely know your own neighbors.

As I walked through the cemetery, suddenly I felt that my feet were parted from the ground. I was up in the air. I looked down as I went higher. I was flying. It felt so natural, so easy. I didn't even have to think about doing it, it was just happening. As if I was some kind of bird, with strong wings that carried him wherever he wanted to go. That was the only thing about being a vampire that ever excited me in a positive way. I enjoyed the view as I flew above Cardiff in the direction of a nearby village.

When I arrived at my destination I reacted instinctively. After searching a little, I assaulted the first victim in my vampire existence without any hesitation.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I feasted upon an old man who was taking his dog for a walk. The taste, the smell, the warmth of the blood satisfied me just as the first drops touched my tongue after I sank my fangs into my victim's neck. They were sharper than I thought they would be; they went through the skin like a sharp knife through butter. After drinking as much as I wanted, I let the body hit the ground. Then the guilt overwhelmed me as I realized I had just killed a man.


	11. Animal I Have Become

_**A/N:**__ This is the third chapter that's telling you about Lawrence's past, written from his POV. I hope you'll like it...However, tell me what you think in the reviews :)_

_**P.S.** The son__g by Three Days Grace that's the soundtrack for this chapter gets along with it really good so check it out. The lyrics describe Lawrence's feelings so perfectly that's why the chapter has the same title like the song. :)_

**11. Animal I ****Have Become**

The feeling was worse than the pain that I had gone through during the transformation in the shed. Just the idea that I had taken someone's life away in order to continue with my own troubled me enough and chased me from the moment when I dropped my first victim on the ground.

Much worse was the feeling that he was not going to be my last victim if I wanted to survive and continue with my existence. There were going to be much, much more people from whom I was going to drink. As I realized that, I wanted to end my parasitic existence right away.

I went to a sea cliff near Cardiff, one of the deadliest ones that existed. If you fell down from it, there was no help for you; no doctor was going to fix you after that. The deadly, sharp rocks waited beyond it, ready to break every bone inside of you and bleed you out. Many people have died out of clumsiness, slipping on that cliff. It was the perfect solution to my problem.

I breathed in deep as I stood up there before the fall. Without any further thoughts, I launched myself down, ready to be shattered on the rocks as a crystal glass thrown on the floor.

As I landed on the stones, it hurt me, but not as hard as the transformation. I broke several bones and lost some blood through the deep wounds, but I didn't die like I had wanted to. Soon, I felt able to get up. I pushed my bones back in place, in a rage because my suicide attempt hadn't worked. Everything healed soon. So, I searched for another possibility.

I tried to cut my wrists and to bleed out through them. Too bad, they healed too fast. Then, one thought came to my mind. _"Use a stake."_ But where was I supposed to find one? I decided to improvise. I found a shovel and broke its wooden holder. I pointed the sharp wood towards my heart and thought:

_"So, this is it. No one will ever die because of me again."_

I almost staked myself, but just as the sharp wood touched my skin, I remembered my parents, and more importantly - Natalie. I had to know what was happening with them before my final death. But it was too late. I saw that the moon and sun were slowly starting to substitute themselves. I had to find a safe place to stay until the next night.

I stayed in the little village, knowing that in Cardiff everyone was probably looking for me; there was no place I could hide there where I wouldn't be found. My parents were probably freaking out because I never left home for this long without prior notice. I found a dusty attic in one neglected house and stayed there, keeping company with a few fat rats.

The next night, I knew where I had to go. Back home. I wanted to find Natalie, first. Back at her home, the lights were on everywhere except her room. I flew up to her window, being cautious if someone was able to see me from the street, and peered into her room. No one was inside. I knocked softly a few times to be sure. When no one turned the light on, I knew that Natalie's father had fulfilled his threat and sent Natalie to the nearest monastery.

I didn't know what to do next - whether to go home or to the monastery in order to find Natalie. I decided to go to the place that was thirty minutes away from Cardiff, an old monastery called St Mary's. As I approached it, I reminded myself to avoid looking at the crucifixes that must have been scattered all around the place. I remembered the stories that told that vampires were vulnerable in front of them. As I discovered later, that wasn't true.

All the nuns were busy; I saw that as I sneaked through the monastery's halls. I needed some time to coordinate myself, to figure out where the private rooms for sleep were. When I finally found the right area, I wandered through the long hall, peering through every yanked door. Most of the lights in the rooms were shut, because obviously it was a custom for the nuns to go to sleep early.

I lost my breath when I finally found her. I needed quite a long time to recognize her under her new outfit, but eventually she started getting ready for sleep, taking the veil down and letting her recognizable blonde and slightly curly hair down. I decided to sneak up on her while she was turned away from the door. I came in quickly and locked the door after closing it silently. At the new speed, I came behind Natalie and held my hand against her mouth before she was even aware that someone came inside. I also gripped her waist with the other.

When she felt my hands, she screamed half-audibly due to my palm over her mouth. I whispered:

"Sssssh. It's just me. Lawrence."

She twisted her neck back to look up into my face. She was shocked. I removed my hand from her lips and she asked, pushing herself into my arms:

"How did you...How did you get here?"

When I didn't say anything, she lifted her head up and looked confused.

"What is it?" She took my hands and jumped as she felt them, realizing how cold they were. "Lawrence, what happened? Why are your hands so cold?"

I parted from her and sat on the humble, small bed. I face-palmed, breathed in deep and told her:

"Natalie, I'm not the Lawrence you knew before."

"What are you talking about? Of course you are. Get me out of here and..."

"Natalie, I can't!" I exclaimed.

"Sugar, what's wrong?" She asked me while being too close to me, her lips only one inch in front of mine. I was too thirsty.

I growled and flashed my fangs, although I didn't want to. She screamed, pulled out her crucifix pendant on a necklace and showed it to me. I didn't know what I should expect, that seeing it would kill me. Nothing happened.

"What are you? How did this happen?"

"A vampire. I got drunk on the night after I last saw you. I went to the cemetery; a vampire killed me there and made me this way."

"Why did you come here? You're a monster now."

"It's not my fault. Becoming what I am now was not my fault."

"You want to kill me, don't you?" She asked me, standing up and moving away from me, her back against one wall next to the window. "Do it. I can't live anymore, not after this."

"You can go away from here with me. You can be like me," I suggested, without even thinking it through.

"I would rather be dead than like you," she said and her every word felt like a knife stabbing my heart.

I lowered my look, feeling defeated. I shoved Natalie away from the window with a few metal bars in front of it. I tore them out from the wall and opened the window, ready to get out.

"Stop," Natalie said and gripped my hand. "We can fix you. There is exorcism and..."

"Really?" I asked. "Do you really think your sacred nuns and priests wouldn't kill me right away as they saw me?"

"I will talk with them."

"You're lying," I said, with my fangs still fully extended, bringing my face into hers. "You told me, you despise me now."

"Lawrence, I don't want to lose you!" She said, started crying and held my face.

I didn't believe her words. She couldn't change her opinion so fast. I cried, for the first time after a long, long time and moved from her. My fangs retracted and I told her:

"You already have."

Feeling defeated, I flew out from her room. I heard Natalie's scream calling for me:

"LAWRENCE!"

I couldn't allow myself to come back to her. I knew that we had no future and that I couldn't make her a low-life that I had become. After that, I was determined to go home, to check what was happening there. I had a plan that was going to calm my family down, to make them think that everything was OK and that I wasn't dead. I planned to come home, tell them that I was leaving Cardiff and then go away after collecting some of my things.

My plan had to wait for another day because the sun was rising soon after I left Natalie. I slept in the same attic, and before going out I drained a few of rats that were up there. They were disgusting but I knew that I couldn't cope with another dead mortal, so I drank. After all, they had blood in themselves and that was all that mattered.

After that, I flew to Cardiff's cemetery and walked home. It had snowed and the streets were mostly empty. When I got there, I knocked on the door and waited anxiously. I wondered if Natalie had already informed my parents that I was made a vampire. I hoped that she hadn't. Things would be much harder in that case.

When the door opened, my father stood before me. His eyes were bright and obviously sober, his clothes clean and tidy and his hair combed. His jaw hung down, he gulped and then asked in disbelief:

"Son?"

I forgot all the hatred that I felt for him before. I answered:

"Yes, father. It's me."

"Maryanne!" He yelled, turning in the direction of the kitchen to call my mother. She ran to us and threw herself in my arms. I held her close.

"Lawrence!" She said between two sobs. "Don't ever do something like that again! You scared me to death!"

"I won't," I said and she parted from me.

"Where were you, son?" My father asked me.

"Long story. I was drunk and when I sobered, I needed a lot of time to figure out where I was and to find my way back." I made up a story, hoping that they would believe me. My mother shook her head in disapproval.

"Come in," she told me and stepped aside to let me in. "Did you hear from Natalie? She's at St Mary's."

"I know," I said. "We broke up."

"How come?"

"We weren't meant for each other. And that's why I'm leaving Cardiff."

"What?" My father asked.

"There is nothing left for me here," I explained.

"What about your family, college? Breaking up with a girl is not a valid reason to run away from your town. You'll find another one. You're too handsome to be single, son." My mother tried to encourage me to stay and she patted my shoulder. If things weren't as complicated as they were, she would have succeeded at convincing me.

"I'll continue with college in Manchester. And you guys have to understand that I don't wish to be here anymore."

"If that's what you want..." My mother said sadly.

"It is," I said. "I'll go up now and collect my things."

"You'll travel at night?" My mother was worried. "It's too dangerous."

"Not for me," I said as I ran up the stairs to my room.

Up there I found my old suitcase on the top of the wardrobe and started putting the most important things in it. It was clothes, a few favorite books of mine and an old oil painting of my family. I picked up my necessities from the bathroom, although I wasn't sure if I was going to need them. I took my razorblade, toothbrush, comb, scissors and my almost empty bottle of cologne, a gift from Natalie for my twenty-fourth birthday.

After closing the suitcase on my bed, I sat down on my chair and wrote a short letter. I folded the paper when I finished writing and then put it my coat's pocket. After that I went to Rosie's room to say goodbye, although she was probably deeply asleep. I opened the door silently and went to sit on her bed. She woke up, probably because the bed shifted under my weight. She rubbed her eyes to adjust them to the darkness. I had no sight difficulties; another good thing about being a vampire.

"Brother?" She mumbled, unsure and still sleepy.

"Yes, Rosie. It's me," I answered and then she sat up in her bed to give me a hug.

"Where were you? We were so worried," she said against my chest.

"It doesn't matter now. I have to go."

"Go where?"

"Manchester. Mom and Dad will explain everything to you," I said and kissed her hair.

Then, she suddenly stiffened in my arms.

"Why are you so cold?" She asked me and patted my cheeks. Her little hands burned me with warmth.

"I just came from outside. It snowed."

"Oh."

I stood up and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Remember, Rosie. I will always love you and be your older brother, although I'm leaving. Don't forget that, OK?"

"I won't," she said bravely but began to cry lightly after all. She lay down; I covered her with a blanket and then went back to my room to retrieve my suitcase.

When I got it and went down to the kitchen, my parents were there, sitting at the table. As I walked in, my mother looked at me and asked, seeing through me with her eyes, knowing that I had kept something from her and Dad:

"Lawrence, is there something that you haven't told us?"

"No." I lied and she knew it.

"You know you can trust us. Tell us."

"No. It is better this way," I told her and held her in my arms as she stood up.

She started crying.

"Son, I don't want to lose you. Will you write to us?"

"I'll try, Mother. I can't promise you anything."

She kept silent and then I said something that I really had to say to my dad:

"Father, I'm sorry for everything wrong that I ever said or did to you, I just wanted..."

"...peace and quiet for us all," he ended my sentence, at my surprise. "I know. I was an ass. I'm glad that you took it out on me on Sunday. I'm sober and I found myself a new job."

"I'm glad." I said sincerely and gave him a strong hug. "Be good to Mom and Rosie. They deserve it. And keep away from liquor bottles."

"I will," he promised.

I walked out of the kitchen and passed by a mirror. I was confused when I saw that I had a reflection in it although I expected I wouldn't cast it, but I moved away from it toward the door and said, opening it:

"Goodbye, folks. Please, continue living this way and tell my friends that I'm gone. I must hurry."

"We will," my mother promised and then I walked out of the house, through our small yard and out into the street.

I passed by many recognizable houses and eventually, Natalie's. I stood by her family's mailbox and after some time, she appeared in the lit window. She was back from the monastery. I guess she had told her father that we were no longer together; he must have given up on her becoming a nun and determined to find her a suitable bachelor from the upper class himself.

She looked down at me with a complex expression that I couldn't read. I couldn't tell was she sad, indifferent, regretting...But honestly, I didn't care anymore. I knew she didn't want me anymore.

I pulled out the letter that I had written in my room and put it in the mailbox. Without looking up at Natalie's window, I continued along the street. The letter said:

_Dear __Natalie,_

_You know that we have no future together, not after the things from yesterday. Don't worry, a new man for you will come, soon. I'm sure __of that. A better one than me._

_Please, keep my __secret to yourself and don't tell it to anyone, especially not my parents. They believe that I'm going to Manchester and I want it to stay that way._

_Thank you for all the love that you gave me while we were together._

_Lawrence._

I knew that she ran out from the house to get the letter as soon as I walked away. I also knew that she was going to respect my wish. In that moment, I left my old life behind me and started a new, tormenting one. One that cannot actually be called life, but existence. Pointless existence, very often.


	12. Back To Present

**_A/N:_**_ In this chapter, the narrator is again Lawrence. Nothing else to say...Read, review, add to favorites if you want..._

**12. Back ****To The Present**

I finished picking through my history and I really wasn't in the mood for telling more of my story, although I was far from its end. I had another two hundred years to tell about, but Anne asked me to tell her about my transformation and that was exactly what I told her. She realized I wasn't talking anymore and she returned from her daydream, I guess from picturing my story in her head. She asked me, after wiping a few tears that slid down her cheeks during some parts of my story:

"And what happened after that?"

I sighed and told her:

"I'll tell you some other time, OK? This part was long enough and the other one is over two hundred years long."

"Just tell me what happened to Natalie."

"She got married, gave birth to two sons and died in 1869, " I answered, remembering the engraved year of death on Natalie's gravestone.

She squeezed my hand tighter and soon sat up, curling herself in my lap to hug me, her hands around my neck. I held her as tight as she did me and then she told me quietly:

"I would never be able to go through everything that you have gone through. I would have staked myself."

"I have later realized that I actually want to see where the world is going," I explained.

"I'm glad you did. Otherwise, I would've never met you."

She played with my hair, twisting the ends and then smoothing them again, her face still buried under my chin. It soothed me; it just felt good to sit down on her bed, in her room, to hold her in my arms and to feel her pleasant touch on my skin. I stroked her back lightly, going up and down her spine.

"You know, I would've run away with you if I was her," she mentioned. "I would never let you go."

She lifted her head up to me, her eyes overflowing with emotions. I hesitated just a little and then began kissing her. She brought herself into the kiss completely, driving me crazy with her skill. When she parted from me for a brief moment, I breathed heavily and told her:

"I could do this all day..."

I meant that. There was no other place where I wanted to be at that moment, with no one else than her.

"Me too," she said and grazed my lower lip lightly with her front teeth. I let out a small moan and told her:

"Hey...Easy," I gently pushed her to calm the passions down.

"Why?" She insisted. "Are you going to bite me, too?"

"No," I exclaimed although the idea was appealing, especially because I was quite thirsty. "It's just that we've known each other for less than a week. Slow down."

"I didn't intend to make love to you, if that's what you mean. I just wanted to make out."

"OK, but still you drive me crazy."

"Is that a compliment?" She asked me and nibbled my earlobe. I shivered out of joy and answered:

"Maybe."

"Are you a virgin?" She asked me suddenly. Direct girl, isn't she?

"Why do you want to know?" I gave her a question instead of the answer and chuckled.

"Are you?" She insisted.

"What do you think?"

"No."

"You're right."

"So, you've made love with someone after all."

"Yes, I have," I said and remembered the clumsy first time, back when I was eighteen, before I even knew Natalie.

"So, what's wrong?"

I chuckled and answered her. It was too obvious and I noticed it the night before when her mood changed from one second to another way too fast:

"Your hormones, I think."

She smiled and asked me:

"Did you peek at my period schedule or what?"

"What's a period schedule?" I asked her, totally confused.

"Well, you know...Every 28 or 30 days women..."

"...have their period," I finished, rolling my eyes. "Thanks, Captain Obvious. But what's the schedule for?"

"To know when you are supposed to get it."

"Oh." Then I laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just remembered some bad jokes about vampires."

"You mean the one where one vampire digs through a trash can, and then another comes and asks him what is he doing?"

"Just searching for tampons to fix my sick kid a cup of tea," I answered and we both burst into laughter.

"Old one, but good one," Anne added when she caught her breath again. Then, I glanced at the wall clock. Half past seven PM. Time flew by us so fast.

"How long was I telling you about my past?"

"An hour or two..."

"Jeez," I said and stood up. I felt that I needed to drink so I decided to go to my place soon. "I should go."

"So early?" She whined while kneeling on the bed.

"I have needs, you know?"

"Oh," she nodded. "See you tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure. I think I'll have some things to fix."

"What things?"

"I'll tell you eventually."

"But I'll see you on Monday, right?"

"Sure. Do you need my body-guarding services tomorrow night?" I checked to be sure if it was OK not to come to her the night after.

"Nah... I won't be going out. I have a lot of catching up to do."

"OK. Monday, then?"

"Deal."

"Sleep tight."

"I will," she said and embraced me once more.

We kissed and I went out through her open window, too lazy to walk down and exit through the front door. After all, why did I have the flying ability but to fly instead of walking?

. . .

My plan for the next day included help from my only friend, named Jack. Yes, he was a vampire just like me, and not a crazy senior mortal who liked to hang out with vamps. I had a mutual place with him, which was in a very suspicious part of London's industrial district, a two-room flat (if that's the proper word for a dirty place that was busting with cockroaches and spider webs until we made it appropriate to sleep and live in).

I met Jack for the first time back in Boston in 1959. Until then, I had met only a few dozen vampires and those encounters weren't always pleasant. They ended in various ways: some with a mutual parting, some with a tough fight and some (actually two of them) with intercourse. Those two times were when I met two steaming female vampires, who were more than willing to play a little, and I couldn't refuse them.

I mentioned fights. I had many, many of them, mostly because I have despised my kind since I was transformed. I hated every other vampire and wanted to get my revenge for becoming one of them by killing the ones that I ran into. Somehow, I have always left those fights as a winner. Maybe my rage is too strong to allow me to be defeated. Except for the two hot vampire women, the remaining vampires were very young, inexperienced newborns. I often walked away from them without fighting, because they were too confused and reminded me of my first vampire days too much.

Jack, however, didn't belong to any of those categories. I ran into him while I was plotting to raid a blood bank in Boston in September of 1959, I think. I had started drinking hospital blood a few months before, reducing my blood consumption to once every two days. I also changed hospitals very often, cautious not to take too much in too short time from any of them. That night I came to Boston's City Hospital. When I walked through the door of the room that held blood storage, I was immediately startled.

There was a tall man with blonde hair in there, obviously doing what I was there for, too. He was holding a dozen blood bags, trying to close the fridge. I knew that he was just like me. There is no reason for mortals to barge into a blood bank and steal blood, not if they are mentally sane. It makes sense only if a vampire is doing it. I cleared my throat after entering the room and closing the door.

"Are you going to leave anything?" I asked. The stranger turned to me and growled, intending to scare me off, probably thinking that I was mortal. I growled back, even deeper than he did, showing my fangs to show him who he was dealing with.

"Man, there's enough for both of us. I'm not taking all of it," he explained and shrugged his shoulders.

"How long have you been a vampire?"

"Well..." he said and looked up, counting the time in his mind." Fifteen years."

"Just as I thought," I said and walked toward him, took all but two of the blood bags out of his hands, put them back in the fridge and commented, "Ignorant newborn."

When he reached out his hand to take the bags back, I said, slamming the fridge's lid shut:

"You're in a room with a vampire who's ahead of you by...At least a hundred and fifty years. Leave those bags," I warned him.

"Why?"

"Are you seriously an idiot? Do I have to explain everything?"

He shrugged. I sighed, considering his blonde hair.

"If you take so much, the staff will notice and reinforce the security. If you do that in every hospital that has a blood bank, it will soon become impossible for any of us to get a single blood bag."

"I never thought about it that way."

"You're from here?"

"I was born in New York, but I moved here after I was made," he answered.

"Who turned you?"

"Some old creep. And you? Where are you from?"

"Cardiff, United Kingdom."

He introduced himself to me. His name was Jack and he was twenty-two years old when he was turned. His story was quite similar to mine. He also got drunk before he was turned, so he couldn't defend himself.

He was inexperienced and vampire existence was quite hard for him. Just like me, he wasn't violent and he didn't like to attack mortals. In his fifteen years, he had killed only four mortals and in the remaining time he had survived on hospital blood.

He had a good place to stay in Boston, unlike me. During my travels, I slept in various places, ranging from dusty attics to neglected factories. So, Jack invited me to his place.

Our friendship has lasted into the present day. We weren't exactly friends in the beginning. We weren't boyfriends either, you pervert. A more proper name for us would be blood brothers. When he found himself some blood, he always brought some for me, just as I did for him when I was looking for blood.

Having a friend made things much easier for me. I didn't have to be alone, to bore myself to death or to be desperate because of my nature. Jack was always a person with good ideas when we were bored. A few times, we went to local nightclubs, flirted with mortal girls and remained uncovered as vampires among them. Crime was also our common activity; we were often stealing modern clothes and other things to keep up with the trends.

Speaking of the present, Jack and I had bought the aforementioned apartment in London's industrial district with the money earned from selling two stolen cars on the black market. Yeah, we dared to come out at night and pretend to be mortals. The prior owner of our apartment didn't really care who the buyers were. He needed the money. We did look suspicious, but I guess that he thought that we were drug dealers or hit men, so he took the money and sold the place to us without asking unnecessary questions.

The thing I had planned for Sunday was part of a scheme that Jack and I had been occupied with for the last few weeks. We both despised other vampires so we were slowly finding them and killing them, one by one. The current situation in London was unbearable and we felt responsible to do something about it. Up until that Saturday, we had managed to kill a few vampires. It wasn't hard to find them. They hid themselves in the most obvious locations; cemeteries and dark alleys were their favorite destinations.

On my way to our apartment, I visited one of the hospitals on the edge of the city, taking two blood bags. I had already started missing Anne and I wondered if I was going to make it through the next day without seeing her, but I knew that the thing that I was going to do was for her safety. If I cleared up the city of vampires, Anne and other mortals would be safer. And that was the most important thing to me. Her safety.


	13. Being Apart

_**A/N: **__This chappie is split in two pieces, one for Lawrence's POV and one for Anne's. It's my pleasure to introduce you to a new male vampire character, Jack. I hope you'll like him because he's gonna be appearing often from now on :D_

_Enjoy reading and give me your opinion :)_

**13. ****Being Apart**

I lazily walked inside the building where Jack and I were staying and breathed out in relief as I realized that there were no mortals in the staircase. Yes, the goddamn elevator was broken again, due to the fact that nobody was willing to pay for its repair. I'm not saying that I minded that. Most of the time, I flew from the outside straight through the window of our apartment on the highest level, to spare myself a coincidental meeting with any of the low-lives that lived in the apartments beyond.

The building itself was a freak magnet, due to the low rent and the fact that it was on a not so attractive city block. There was a huge variety of disturbed mortals living there - in range from the badass-ghetto black family on the first level, to meth cookers and dealers, drug junkies, transvestites and cheap prostitutes infected with herpes, crabs, AIDS and who knows what else.

As I unlocked the door I saw Jack, who was all into his new toys - Playstation 3 and some random game.

"Honey, I'm home!" I said, in 80's classic sitcom style. "Catch!"

He turned back as I threw him one of the two blood bags that I had brought from the hospital. It was my day for _cooking_. Jack caught the blood, eyed the bag briefly and complained, with a short discontent snort:

"Was there no A positive?"

"There's no difference, rookie," I answered as I took my coat off and hung it on the hanger near the door. "If I removed the blood type mark, you wouldn't know what type it was not even when you drank it."

"Right," he nodded and set the bag on the coffee table in front of the sofa he was sitting on before taking the controller back into his hands. "After all, you don't look into the gift horse's mouth."

"Exactly," I said and went to kitchen to heat up my blood in the microwave. Sometimes I drank it cold, sometimes warm. This time I was in the mood for heat; the temperature made it seem more like feeding from a mortal. "Jack, son, how many times have I told you: no games before dinner?"

"But, mom!" He continued in my style. I chuckled and cut the top off the bag that I held, poured the liquid in a big cup and put the cup in the microwave. I set the timer and closed the lid, waiting for 15 seconds to pass. I glanced at our plasma TV, also obtained illegally, and commented:

"You're starting to annoy me intensely with that bloody wall-running Persian."

The game character was doing some hideously impossible acrobatics, under control of Jack's fingers on the controller.

"Um-hum," Jack mumbled, not hearing me at all. "And where were you today?"

"With a girl," I answered shortly. I still hadn't told anything about Anne to Jack.

"Vamp or mortal?"

"Take a guess," I dared him and took the cup out from the microwave after a short beep.

I remembered how Anne burned her hand on her cup of tea from the microwave in her kitchen a few days before. I chuckled and went to settle myself down in the armchair next to the fake black leather sofa that Jack was sitting on.

"I know that you meet with female vamps every twenty years or so; only when you're desperate to screw somebody," he spoke as I sat down. "You did it last time in... I don't know...2006 or 2007? So, this had to be a mortal."

"You got me, Sherlock." I yawned, feeling tired. Jack smiled widely and asked, gesturing with his index finger at me to wait:

"Don't tell me...You've convinced her that you're...Albino and that you also have a body temperature regulation disorder. Plus anemia."

"You should really write a book. Earn some money from your craziness," I said while still laughing at his last line. Freaking hilarious. That was how we always acted and spoke with each other, humor and sarcasm dripping from every word to cut the boredom down.

"Right. Publishers are always looking for a vampire to write comedy."

"You can always pretend not to be a vampire. Wouldn't be the first time."

We kept silent for some time. I knew that it was just a few seconds until Jack would ask another question about Anne, nosy by his nature. I sipped some blood and waited patiently, crossing my ankle over my left knee.

"So, does she know the truth?" He eventually asked me, his eyes still concentrated on the new game level.

"Yes," I answered and glanced around. When I shifted my look back at the screen, the Persian Prince was attacked and killed. Game over. Jack stopped playing.

"Are you crazy pathetic or just crazy?" He asked me.

"I don't know," I answered and gulped down the remaining blood, licking my lips afterwards.

"How did you meet her?"

"I intended to attack her but gave up after all. The night after, I saved her from a robber. She became interested in me, I laid my eyes on her, and that's it."

"So, what were you doing with her last night?"

"We got drunk at her place and I overslept."

"What about her family?"

"She lives alone," I said and put the empty cup down on the table.

"Oh. And what are your future plans with her?"

"We'll see. Like she said - we'll enjoy it while it lasts."

"Did you bite her?"

"No, moron," I answered.

"You're so mean to me," he said and pouted his lower lip, pretending to be insulted. It was Jack's favorite pastime; being over-theatrical. "What's her name?"

"Anne."

"Blonde, red, black or brunette?"

"Brunette."

"Age?"

"Twenty-one."

"Oooh. I like her already," he said and warmed his hands by rubbing them against each other. "When will you be bringing her over here?"

"When you move out."

"But, sweetheart! I have to call my attorney if you want a divorce!"

"Stop with that or I'll smack you," I threatened him, being slightly irritated with his pretending. "You need to get laid, soon."

"Can I take your little black book and contact some of your acquaintances, then?"

"I don't have a little black book," I answered and he returned to playing again. I remembered my plans for the following evening and asked him "Are you in the mood for some leech hunting tomorrow night?"

"Sure. We're cleaning up the streets again?"

"We should. Things aren't getting any better."

"Good. I'm in the mood for some action. Why not tonight already?"

"I'm tired."

"OK, senior citizen...Go take your medication, put your diaper on and tuck yourself in bed," he said and burst out in laughter.

"Aha-ha-ha..." I replied sarcastically, feeling I needed to go to sleep. Usually, I slept around twelve hours a day. Back at Anne's house, I had had six or seven hours of sleep while being half-drunk. It was far from enough. Also, I just had my first drink after three days and usually I feed every two days. That also made me less swift. I wondered how I was able to spend the whole day with Anne without thinking about drinking. I guessed that I had too strong feelings for her and stood up, going to my room and leaving Jack behind.

I shut the door and eyed the room; the non-translucent blinds on the window, a few pieces of cheap furniture and dark blue walls. I sat down on the bed, but decided to take a shower before going to sleep. I smiled as I remembered how Jack and I had attained this apartment and fixed it to look acceptable.

We came to London in the year 2000, to start the new millennium in a new town and with a new place to stay. Before that, we travelled through almost every single place on Earth, all seven continents. My personal favorites were New York, Madrid, Sydney and Tokyo. New York for its architecture and night life, Madrid because of my favorite soccer club Real Madrid, Sydney because of its architecture, and Tokyo because of the fact that it was a very easy place to fit in. We stayed there for a good ten years and went out during the night a lot. The people there were too weird and the looks of us two weren't unusual compared to them.

London, however, had been my dream city since my mortal days. I always wanted to go there, to the capital of England. When I arrived there with Jack, I was kind of disappointed. It wasn't as I expected it would be. The city itself was dull and foggy. Too many buildings, houses and skyscrapers and a noticeable lack of greenery, trees and nature in general. But that didn't matter because I wasn't going to get out at day.

The first thing we did when we arrived was finding shore up contacts. We looked for car buyers, the ones that were actually buying stolen cars. When we contacted one who was willing to buy whatever we brought to him, the amusing part started. We looked for criminals like drug dealers, gigolos and everyone similar to them, careful not to steal from people who earned their cars with hard work.

When we found one drug dealer that lived on an expensive block and had a few _BMW-s_ and _Audi-s _in his garage, we decided to goof around. While the badass cocaine dealer was snoring and deeply asleep, Jack and I barged in silently through an open window and searched for his car keys, eventually finding six of them. Also, we emptied his overflowing wallet. We didn't feel guilty for doing that. After all, the dealer earned his money in immoral ways and he didn't deserve any of the things that he had.

Jack was laughing like an idiot the whole time we were trying to figure out which key opened which car's lock in the garage downstairs. Eventually, we figured it out and Jack took a _BMW_. I decided to take another one, knowing that an _Audi_ couldn't achieve the same price as the _BMW_. We opened the garage door, which made too much noise, but the owner of the house didn't wake up after all. We pushed our cars outside onto the empty street to keep the noise down. When we aligned them one after another in the driving lane, I _accidentally_ dropped the remaining car keys in the sewer drain next to the sidewalk. I could imagine the dealer's expression in the morning, when he realized that two of his rides were gone as well as the keys for the remaining ones, just like all the cash but five pounds from his wallet.

We had learned how to drive ten years before that, so it wasn't a problem for us to drive the stolen cars away. When we arrived at the agreed location, everything was just fine, although we expected cops undercover. There was just our guy. We followed his car to his garage where he paid us our money and announced that he would like to cooperate with us again, because we had brought him the best cars in a long time, as he told us. We earned 50 thousand that night, which was more than enough to get a place to stay.

We found our place in the industrial district, met the property owner, paid him in cash while he shot his suspicious glances at us and became the owners of the apartment. Next day it was cloudy, without any sun so we called for a cleaning service and sanitizers. By nightfall, the place was spotless. That's how we cleaned it up. We had furniture inside, left from the past occupant.

We continued living that way, stealing a few cars a year to gain the money for our needs and desires. We were paying the bills in advance, six months usually. In eleven years, our apartment became more modern. We slowly substituted all the furniture and bought ourselves a computer, TV, washing machine and everything that we wanted.

After remembering the good old times, I got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower. As mildly warm, almost cold water came down my naked body, I felt better instantly. I washed my hair and wrapped a towel around my waist after getting out.

I brushed my teeth and went back to my room. I could still hear the game sounds from the living room, swords clashing against each other, fight grunts and moans.

"Keep it down!" I called to Jack loudly.

"Fine," he yelled back.

Soon, there was silence. Except for the distant police sirens. I fell down to sleep sometime after dawn, eager for the next night to come.

. . .

When I woke up the next morning, I was feeling weird. I remembered how nice my awakening was the previous morning, on Lawrence's back that was so weirdly comfortable despite its coldness. I missed him. I missed his voice, his face, his lips, and his hands, his everything. Well, I had to provide myself with some additional patience, until tomorrow night.

I got up from the bed, the same one that still smelled like Lawrence and his seductive cologne, the best one that I had ever smelled in my whole life. I had to ask him what he was using so that I could buy myself a bottle to smell when I missed him. Or not. It would be too desperate. Instead of that, I should just have to get him drunk more often. Hehe.

I stretched as I walked into the bathroom and took a long shower, not rushing at all. I shampooed my hair, rinsed the foam thoroughly, and stepped out of the shower. I looked into the mirror and plucked a few newly grown eyebrows that were out of the shape that I was maintaining.

I put some clothes on and observed the house as I walked through it. I wondered when I had last cleaned it up. Well, that day I was definitely going to do it. I dug out a bunch of cleaning necessities, pulled the vacuum cleaner out of my stepfather's unused room and started acting like a housekeeper.

After three hours, I was finally done. All the windows were shiny, all the floors spotless, carpets clean, bathroom gleaming and the laundry washed and dried.

I wanted somebody's company afterwards so I called Stacie. She was glad that I invited her and said that she'd come over around six PM. I went to the kitchen and made some chocolate muffins, feeling unusually creative and handy. When they were done, I ate one. It was so damn good that I could have eaten all of them.

When Stacie arrived, we sat in the living room and started chatting:

"So, girl...What were you doing yesterday?"

"Nothing special," I lied and Stacie knew it.

"Does that 'nothing special' include that mysterious guy of yours?" She asked me and smiled while picking at her muffin.

"Um...No," I said and smiled although I tried my best not to.

"Liar," Stacie sighed. "But I forgive you. These are the best muffins I ever ate."

"I know. I ate three," I said and patted my stomach. I could live only by eating chocolate.

Stacie kept silent a little and then spurred:

"I heard from Matt again."

"Can you remind me why you, my best friend, are in contact with my asshole ex?"

"He's been my friend since grade school, Anne. I can't just forget that he exists just because you two broke up."

"Oh. I forgot. But, do remember not to mention him to me anymore."

"OK. This will be the last time. He told me he saw your new boyfriend."

"Really?"

"Um-hum. He says that the bloke is weird."

"Weird in what way?" I was curious.

"He says that he barely spoke at all. And that he's older than you."

"He didn't want to get involved in the argument and he is twenty-five, Stacie."

"Four years older. OK, I guess Matt is just jealous. He told me that you slapped him."

"Did he tell you why?"

"No."

"He told me I was a whore."

"Son of a..." Stacie started, angrily.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry. He didn't say anything about that."

"You're forgiven. Please, stop talking about him now. How are you and Joshua doing?" I asked her.

"Same old, same old."

"You mean perfect?"

"Something like that," she said and searched for something in her bag. She pulled out a few A4 papers and handed them to me. "I copied my notes from Friday."

"Jeez, thanks. I forgot to ask you to do that."

"Well, what are best friends for but to care for each other?"

I smiled and she got up after glancing at her watch:

"I should get going. Joshua is taking me to the cinema."

"Have fun," I said and we walked to the door. When Stacie was at the doorstep, I mentioned, feeling worried, "Hey, take care of yourself if you're going out late. It's chaos out there."

"Yeah, I saw the news," she answered and shook her head in disapproval. "Don't worry, I always use my car, but you should get yourself one, too."

"I need a license first."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" She asked me as she walked to her blue Mini Cooper. "I'm sure Mister Georg would be happy to send you a Volvo from Sweden."

I chuckled and said:

"See you tomorrow in class."

"See ya," she said and drove away. I went inside and after a brief tidying up decided to watch TV a little and then study for the next day before going to sleep.


	14. First Fight

_**A/N**__: Things in this story were quite idyllic and perfect until now but to make it more realistic it's time for the first fight...Enjoy reading and review, please :)_

**14. ****First Fight**

My Monday passed quite fast and my heart was dancing in my chest as the end of my work shift in the museum approached, knowing that I would see Lawrence again after more than 24 hours. I wondered why I constantly thought about him and missed him from the moment we parted on Saturday night.

I realized I was in love once again. At first sight. With Matt, it wasn't that way. We'd known each other for a few years before we started our relationship. But with Lawrence, a few minutes were enough to make me head over heels for him. Since I heard his story, my feelings for him deepened and became more intense.

When I walked out of the museum, a few minutes earlier than usual, what I saw wasn't pleasant at all. I didn't expect something like that, not even in my wildest dreams. Or nightmares, to be exact. There was a hot female with straight, fire red hair standing by Lawrence, pushing herself against him, kissing him passionately and trying to strip him. He wasn't inert either; instead he held a fistful of her hair while kissing her and squeezing her bottom with the other hand. They were both obviously enjoying what they were doing. I wasn't.

The cherry on top was when Lawrence parted his lips from hers and bit her neck, drawing out quite a lot of blood judging by how long he was sucking. I gasped before I started crying and just stood there, unable to move or believe that what I was seeing was true. My sobs, although quiet, caught their attention. Lawrence turned around and gave me a bewildered look. The redhead just observed me and laughed deeply in satisfaction after a playful growl. Lawrence's eyes met mine and he started walking towards me, some blood still smeared on his lips. I didn't say a word when I walked past him, my tears were saying enough.

"Anne, wait!" He called to me but didn't try to keep up with me or stop me forcefully like he usually would. I just kept going towards the bus station, completely ignoring him.

"Wait, I can explain!" He said. Right...a typical line for all cheaters. _"Honey, I can explain, it's not what it looks like..."_ It was exactly the same crap Matt had told me two months before.

I walked in silence after riding on the bus and I was absolutely positive no one was following me. After a few minutes, I reached my front door. I noticed Lawrence standing in the dark corner of the porch. As I was inserting the key into the lock, I said, feeling disappointed and betrayed:

"Go away."

He emerged from the dark and walked over to me, asking me:

"Why don't you let me explain?"

"I don't wanna hear it," I said and he stopped me from unlocking the door by removing my hand from the doorknob. I shouted at him, "I said I don't wanna hear it!"

He pushed me against the door and shielded me like on the first night I met him. After a sigh, he looked me in the eyes and said:

"What you just saw wasn't my fault."

"No, it never is," I said sarcastically.

"Would you just give me a break?" He asked me and came closer to me.

"Move away or I'll scream," I threatened and tried to escape him.

"Stop wiggling, we both know you are going nowhere," he said and placed his hands around my waist before continuing, "And we both know you won't scream."

"I will," I insisted.

"No, you won't," he said and tried to kiss me. I inserted my hand between our lips and after he moved away a bit, I slapped him across the cheek and asked furiously:

"How dare you to try to kiss me after what you did?"

"Anne!" He exclaimed and I listened more carefully. "That over there was one of the biggest vampire sluts I ever met. It wasn't my fault."

"Yeah, right. And the fact that you kissed her back wasn't your fault either? She kissed herself?"

"I was thirsty, that was why I did it. I knew she would allow me to bite her after making out, that's how slutty she is."

He allowed me to turn around and unlock the door. What he said didn't comfort me at all but I didn't cry, although I felt like it. He followed and closed the door as I simply sat down on the stairs and looked at him.

"Why? Why did you do it? Did you plan for me to see it?"

"You were out early, that's all. I didn't plan anything," he said and stood in front of me.

"Couldn't you find hospital blood like you always do? Did you have to mess around?"

"You're right. I shouldn't have."

"That over there wasn't nice, you know. It hurt me."

"I'm sorry."

"Good for you," I said and stood up to go up the stairs to my room. Again, he followed me. "Why are you still here?"

"You want me to leave?"

"Pretty much," I answered and threw my coat down on the bed before kicking my shoes off.

"No, you don't. You want me to stay. You were jealous, that's why you reacted the way you did."

"You think you're so smart, don't you?" I asked him with my hands on my hips. He just nodded, with a surprisingly irritating, mocking grin on his face. I launched myself at him furiously and pushed him to the wall, the way he did with me before. I said, half way between angry and sad, "Yes, you are. I was jealous. I still am. Is it so hard to understand?"

"No, it's not."

"Listen, if you want to keep doing those things, go away right now and never come back. I don't need someone like that in my life again."

"It won't happen again. I promise," he said.

"Honestly?"

"Honestly, sincerely, really, frankly; never again."

"We'll see about that," I said seriously. "I'm not kidding, you can forget about me if you do something like that again."

He nodded in silence. I turned around to take the coat I took off earlier and put it on a hanger in the wardrobe. Just as I was about to open the wardrobe's door, I felt Lawrence's body on my back, his hands holding me around the waist. He murmured into my ear:

"Come here, I don't like you to be mad at me."

I didn't speak, I just stood there, immobile. He asked:

"Oh, so you're not talking to me anymore?"

When I didn't answer, he mused, "Fine by me," and brushed his lips against my right cheek. I fought my way out of his arms and asked when I faced him:

"Seriously? You're trying to make out with me now?"

"Obviously," he said and crossed his hands on his chest.

"Not gonna happen," I dismissed him before putting the coat in the wardrobe.

"What's the deal? I said I wouldn't do it again."

"Words...Words, Lawrence! Remember when you said you would take care of me; keep me from getting hurt? Guess what, you broke that promise tonight, so your words mean very little."

"How many times do I need to say I'm sorry for you to believe me?"

"I don't believe you, that's the problem. I was hurt once this way and I don't want to go through the same situation again. So go ahead, make out with your vampire sluts, bite them, you can even fuck them if you want. Just go and forget about me."

He looked at me in silence, not moving at all. After maybe a few seconds, he finally spoke, grumbling to himself:

"I'm a fucking idiot."

After shaking his head in anger, he turned around and opened the window - to leave, I guess.

"What? What does that mean?" I asked and grabbed him by the jacket to stop him.

"If you want me to leave, just say it cause I won't apologize over and over again," he answered bitterly.

He just eyed me and didn't say anything more. Suddenly my cell phone rang in my bag on the bed. I turned around for a brief moment and when I turned back to face Lawrence again, he was already gone.

"Lawrence!" I yelled angrily, hoping he was levitating near the window. When I leaned out the window to look around, there was no one there. The lawn under the window was empty. I stood there for a good ten minutes expecting him to show up and feeling the chilly night breeze coming from outside. I didn't know what to think, I didn't know whether he was going to come back ever again or not. I knew nothing, not even if I wanted him back.

. . .

I slammed the front door shut just as I entered the apartment, so strongly the walls were ringing for a while afterwards. Jack, who was just passing by the door to go to his room stopped and eyed me carefully. I pushed him out of my way forcefully and went to get some blood from the fridge. While I was reaching for the fridge's handle, I heard his warning:

"Push me that way again and I'll beat you down."

"Shut the fuck up."

"What the hell is your problem? Bad time of the month?"

"None of your damn business."

"When you act this way, it is my business. Spit it out, now."

I put the blood bag down on the counter and simply launched myself at him. I was so angry that fighting someone was something I wanted. My fist met his jaw and pissed him off. He caught my wrist, twisted it out and immobilized me on the floor by kneeling on my back and pushing my head down with his other hand. Fifty years ago he had been a rookie when it came to fighting, but now he was almost as good as me; able to take down almost any other vampire.

"I'm warning you, stop acting like an idiot!" He said threateningly. "I'm not guilty for whatever happened to you."

I sighed heavily and said, realizing he was right:

"OK. Let me stand up."

He got up in a swift move, flew up and descended to sit on the sofa before saying:

"So, what's the problem?"

I shook the dust from my pants and walked over to the kitchen to finally take my bag and drink it.

"Anne caught me making out with Leticia," I explained and drank a few sips.

"Leticia, the biggest slut in a hundred-mile radius?"

"Yes."

"OK, explain to me one thing - do you care about Anne?"

"Yes."

"Do you want something serious with her?"

"I guess."

"So why the hell would you mess around with Leticia? That won't do you any good."

"I know. I had a...Crisis."

"The _'I'm male, controlled by testosterone and my dick'_ kind of crisis?" He asked and I nodded. "You can solve that crisis in other ways, remember?"

"I was thirsty, too."

"Oh come on, that doesn't make you less guilty. There was blood in the fridge," he said and shook his head in disapproval. "So, how serious was the making out?"

"I was grabbing her ass. And I bit her."

"Ouch! Poor Anne. I bet she's very, very jealous."

"Not only jealous. Angry with me, too."

"Did she at least hit you?" He asked and I nodded in response. "Good. You deserved it. Jeez, I should buy you a relationship guidebook."

"Sorry, love doctor... Do you have any ideas on how I could fix this situation?"

"We'll come up with something. Two brains work harder than just one."

"Thanks."

"No problem. We'll give her a day to settle down and then you'll work your way back into her trust," he said and stood up enthusiastically after checking the wall clock and realizing it was only a few minutes before eleven PM. "Now let's go out and kill some vampires. Your anger might come in handy."


	15. Back On Track

_**A/N:**__ Hope you liked the plotline in the last chapter...Read this one and see how will the things be sorted out...And tell me your opinion in the reviews. Thank you ;)_

**15. Back On Track**

Just like Jack suggested to me, I let Anne's emotions chill and didn't come to her on Tuesday evening. I didn't let her go home unprotected, either. Instead, I was on the museum's roof at the end of her shift along with always nosy Jack. We waited for her to walk out so I could look out for her from above. I didn't want to let her out of my sight until she walked into her house safely and closed the door.

I expected she would go out after the end of her shift, stand in front of the museum and look around for me. I almost failed to notice her and a stranger leaving the museum a few minutes before eight but Jack elbowed me and pointed his finger at them. I squinted in the dark to see who the guy was. Although I expected it was her junkie ex, this was another guy; quite sporty and tall like a basketball player, with shortly cropped blonde hair.

"O-oh..." Jack mumbled in amusement. "Seems like your pretty mortal found herself another date."

I didn't say anything but punched him in the ribs slightly to shut him up and continued observing Anne and the stranger down on the street. They stood in front of the museum gate for a few moments and then started walking in the same direction that Anne and I had taken before.

"Are we following them or?" Jack asked while doing circles and rolls in the air out of boredom.

"You bet we are," I answered. I flew off the roof and started going lazily over the other ones further on, while checking to make sure no one could spot me. Anne and the blonde were having a good time down there, laughing so loudly that the whole street echoed. Suddenly I asked Jack, who was just behind me, "Why do I always listen to your stupid advice? It could be me down there with her right now."

"Well, no one forced you to listen to me," he mused and that was all we said during our walk/flight.

When Anne and the guy reached her front door, Jack hid next to me in the dark front yard of the house across the street, far from a street lamp that could reveal us. Too bad I couldn't hear what were they talking about on the porch, but considering his stance (one hand on the wall behind Anne) I assumed that they were flirting.

I couldn't see the expression on her face, to see if she was looking at him the way she used to look at me, but the next moment I saw them kissing. I hadn't been sure if I was still capable of feeling jealousy, nor did I remember how it actually felt. But at the sight of their kiss, it hit me hard, like it used to when I was still a mortal in love with Catherine. Jack had no comments, and honestly, I wasn't in the mood for any.

When they _finally_ stopped kissing, Anne unlocked the door to go inside and the guy thankfully went away. If he had entered the house with her at that moment, I swear I would've gone inside forcefully and ended their little _'Let's make Lawrence jealous'_ show right away. I wasn't even aware how strong the feelings I had for Anne were until then. Until I wasn't the one kissing her. Jack cleared his throat and asked me:

"Are we going to stalk her all night or actually do something useful somewhere else?"

"Uh, let's go..." I said hesitantly and ascended quickly before I could change mind. I was headed to the hospital since we had no blood left in the fridge back at home and it was a feeding day.

"So...What will you do now?" Jack wondered as we were flying.

"Honestly, I don't know. I only know I want her back."

After simple and easy sneaking into a hospital, when each of us had a blood bag in our pocket, we went to seek and kill some vampires. We found only one. The rest of the bloodsucking assholes hid themselves too well that night.

. . .

I thought I had forgotten how the best tactic for provoking jealousy in the opposite sex worked. I wasn't even sure if Lawrence saw my little _performance_ with Mr. Frederick's son, Ethan. Ethan was one year older than me, and he had a thing for me although I had made it clear earlier I was never going to get involved with him, mainly because he was my boss's son. So when he came over to bring something to his father that Thursday and said a flirty _hi_ to me, I asked him for a favor - to walk me home and kiss me on the porch to make Lawrence jealous. I didn't have to ask twice.

I had to do it to show Lawrence how it feels when the person you care about is messing around with other people. Or vampires. Doesn't really matter; the point is the same.

Nothing especially interesting happened until the next night. I hoped that Lawrence would be waiting for me at the end of my shift; but just like yesterday, he wasn't there. Disappointment number one. I sighed in deep to gather the courage to go home alone and arrived there quickly because I was lucky enough to catch the bus right away.

As I was unlocking the door of the house, I looked around the porch to check if I was alone. I was. Disappointment number two. I shook my head and asked myself while turning the doorknob to open to door:

"What do you even expect from him?"

"From me, I guess?" he asked suddenly, making me turn around instantly, almost in fear as I didn't hear him coming. My breathing sped up and I held a hand on my chest to calm down as I looked at him with panicky eyes.

"Lawrence?" I asked idiotically, although it was more than obvious it was him standing on the doorstep.

"Um, no... Damon Salvatore, nice to meet you," he said indifferently but neither one of us laughed at that sarcastic line like we usually would. He was looking at me in a weird way as he asked, "Was it me you were talking about?"

"Yes."

"So, did you expect me to come here?"

"I expected you'd come to pick me up today, and _yesterday_," I exclaimed, slightly furious. "I guess you proved what I mean to you by not coming."

"Don't jump to conclusions. I was looking at you from the air," he said.

"Bullshit."

"Oh really?" he asked me with his eyebrows lifted up high. "Would it be bullshit too if I told you I know who walked you home and made out with you last night?"

I gulped down for no special reason.

"What, you can't accuse me anymore?" he insisted. "Who is he; your new boyfriend?"

"Do you even care?" I asked and turned around to walk inside.

"Don't turn your back on me when I'm talking to you."

"Really? You were the one who left without saying goodbye last time, so don't teach me good manners," I said and put my heavy bag down.

"Can you tell me what you are trying to achieve right now? OK, you made me jealous and taught me a lesson, but you don't have to be childish."

"I made you jealous?" I repeated while still turned away from him and smiled to myself contently because my plan had worked after all.

"Yes," he admitted. I turned around to look at him. He was leaning against the doorframe with his hands crossed on his chest, looking at me in silence while pinching his lower lip with one tooth. Out of nervousness, I guess. I breathed in deep, thinking about what I should do at that moment - throw myself into his arms to make up with him or still act cold and uninterested.

_"He cares about you. And the last night without him felt so hard, didn't it? So what are you waiting for?"_ I thought and asked him afterwards, "So, we're even now?"

He just closed his eyes and opened them again shortly afterwards along with a little nod. I didn't have any further comments so I walked to him slowly and after standing in front of him for a while, I came closer and he opened his arms to hug me. I didn't need any kissing, any making out, nothing but him holding me close. With my head on the left side of his chest and my arms locked around his back firmly, I felt his left hand holding me tightly and the right one gliding through my hair tenderly.

"I am sorry for what I've done," he said silently.

"Apology accepted."

"Let's not fight again."

"Only if you don't repeat the same mistake ever again," I answered and repositioned my head to a more comfy place on his chest.

"I promise; I won't. It's not worth it," he promised and kissed my hair. "And don't make out with other guys again, OK? I wanted to rip him open just for touching you."

"He's just a friend."

"Just as I thought," he said and chuckled silently so his chest was trembling lightly.

I lifted my head up from his chest to look at his face, smiled widely and asked:

"How'd you know?"

"He's not your type," he answered and smiled back. "Am I allowed to stay for a while?"

"More than allowed," I answered and held his hand as he parted from me for a moment to kick the door behind him closed with his heel. We walked together into the living room holding hands and sat on the sofa. He propped his head on his elbow as he asked:

"So, how've you been doing?"

"Honestly?" I asked and he nodded. "Awful. Nights without you suck."

"Without you too."

We were interrupted by a cell phone ringing from his jacket. The ringtone was one of the best Guns 'n' Roses songs. I looked at the cell in confusion as he took it out and then I asked:

"What does one vampire need a cell for?"

"Calling, texting...Mostly Jack, who happens to be calling right now," he answered and I nodded for him to take the call. He snapped the phone open and asked when he put it to his ear, sounding slightly irritated, "What?"

He laughed silently as he heard Jack speaking then and answered:

"Yes, we did."

After a nod, he raised his eyebrows in confusion and asked:

"You want to talk to her? Why?"

After looking at me and seeing me shrugging he handed me the cell before saying:

"Jack needs to say something to you. I have no idea what."

I took the cell and answered:

"Hello?"

"Is it you, Anne?" a male voice asked, slightly higher pitched than Lawrence's and without the British accent.

"Yep, Jack. It's me. I hear you need to say something to me."

"I just wanted to tell you I'll supervise your lover boy and make sure he doesn't do something stupid again," he said and laughed silently at the end of the sentence.

"Well, thank you," I answered and smiled at Lawrence.

"Oh, and one more thing. The next time you want to make him jealous, pick me..." he offered and I burst out into laughter. When I stopped laughing, I answered:

"I don't think that will be necessary but thanks..."

"No problem...OK, say hi to Lawrence, I gotta go..." he said and the line broke.

I laughed again and said as I was giving the phone back to Lawrence:

"He said _hi_."

"And?"

"You can't get to know everything, now can you?" I teased and stuck my tongue out childishly.

"Can't I?" he asked and looked at me devilishly.

"No, you can't!" I shrieked playfully, launched myself off the sofa and ran up the stairs to my room at full speed. He flew past me when I was at the top of the stairs, swooped me up in his arms and landed in my room, where he sat on the bed and seated me on his lap.

"But I can always catch you," he said and kissed my cheek for the beginning. I held him around the neck and we _finally_ kissed on the lips. Like riding a bike, kissing him was something I couldn't forget even if I wanted to. It felt so good, so pleasant, so nice...

When his lips unwillingly left mine after some time, he murmured:

"Mmmmm... I missed this."

"Me too," I said and kissed him once more. Then I shuffled through my jacket pocket to find my cell. When I got it, I said, "I want your number."

"No problem," he answered and recited it to me. When it was saved, he wondered, "What, you'll bombard me with love texts?"

"You never know..." I answered and threw the cell over my shoulder so it landed on the pillow.

"And what did Jack say?"

"Ask him yourself..." I said and smiled. "By the way, how did he know I made you jealous?"

"Er...He saw you last night."

"Oh," I said, confused.

"And it's a good thing he was there because he stopped me from doing stupid things."

"Stupid like...Doing harm to Ethan?"

He nodded and answered, "I don't like when someone else tries to claim what's already mine."

I widened my eyes contently and asked:

"Oh, so I'm yours?"

"I thought we made that clear earlier..."

"Well, you'll have to make it up to me for your behavior if that's so..." I dared him.

"No problem...How about...A date? Tomorrow?"

"A date?" I repeated enthusiastically. "Sounds good. Sounds _very good_."

"OK then," he answered with a smile and kissed me. "I should go now, it's late, and you must be tired."

"Yeah, I need my beauty sleep," I answered and we stood up.

"No, you're beautiful enough already," he complimented me, we kissed again and then he left after saying _good night_.


	16. Official Start

**_A/N:_**_ A romantic chapter incoming...Just the way we all like it :D Enjoy reading and review :)_

**1****6. Official Start**

The next day before going to classes I spent an extra hour preparing myself for the big thing happening that night – my first date with Lawrence. I wanted to look extra nice for him.

I never liked to wear skirts, so I didn't put one on that day. Instead, I picked my best pair of black skinny jeans, a V-neck long-sleeved emerald shirt, a grey vest beneath my leather jacket and my favorite flats, plain black.

I put on some light make up, concentrating on my eyes and applying just a bit of foundation because luckily after puberty my skin problems vanished and my skin was usually flawless. I put on two layers of mascara and pulled a thin line along my lashes' roots with black eyeliner. After blow-drying my hair I formed soft, loose locks with the curler. I rarely sport any additional accessories, so I just kept the ring that I always wear on my right ring finger; an amethyst encircled in silver. It was my mother's engagement ring.

When the end of my shift finally came, I left the museum and saw Lawrence sitting on that same bench on the opposite side of the street. As he saw me, he stood up on the bench, stepped down from it and strolled over to me with his hands behind his back.

Once we were facing each other, he smiled before we kissed and then gave me a red rose he was holding behind his back. I smelled it and heard him say:

"I hope you like it."

"I do; thanks..." I said and kissed him once more.

"You look beautiful," he complimented me as he took my looks in.

"Thanks. You're very handsome, too." I noticed he was freshly shaved, smelling nice as always and that his hair was shaped carefully. His dark denim jeans looked so good on him I couldn't stop looking and they went along with the grey shirt, black suit jacket and black All Stars sneakers. Wow.

"Um, shall we get going?" He suggested.

"What do you have in plan for us?"

"I was thinking cinema."

"Cinema is good."

When we got there, I became more and more enchanted. The way he spoke fluently and self confidently with the woman who was selling tickets at the entrance, the way he moved with me through the crowd to the projection hall and sat with me in a love seat completely relaxed among mortals was amazing.

When the movie ended we left the cinema, still laughing at one of the hilarious lines from the comedy that we had watched. We held each other's hand and walked slowly towards my house. The evening had been so perfect and nothing could have made it better.

As we slowly approached my front door, we stood there for a while in silence, just looking at each other. It was a quiet night and the street was empty, the only sounds coming from little crickets and a meowing cat somewhere in the distance.

"Thank you for this night. I had a great time," I said to Lawrence and rolled the rose he gave me in my fingers, holding its stem.

"You're welcome. It was great for me, too," he answered.

"I know morality queens don't invite boys inside after the first date but I'm not one of them so would you come inside?" I asked him and smiled. "I really missed you when we were apart."

"Yes, I would like to come inside," he answered and we went to the living room where we sat on the sofa and chattered for a long time, getting to know each other better. Eventually, the topic of our light conversation came to his look in the past. I asked curiously:

"This afternoon I watched a music video from the 80's and wondered if you ever had long hair."

"Hmm... Let me remember..." he mused and face palmed as he remembered, "Er, yeah. And I had it exactly when Axl, Duff, Jon and other rockers had it too."

I laughed loudly and said:

"OMG; I can't even imagine how that would look!"

"Ridiculously, that's how."

"I bet you were sexy."

"I'm not the one to tell," he chuckled.

"Do you have a photograph from then?"

"Nah, that evidence was securely burned so no one could ever see it," he answered and we laughed together.

"Where did you live back then?"

"Well, until 2000 when I came here, I never stayed anywhere for too long. I travelled all over the world with Jack. But I believe we were in Seattle, New York and Tokyo most of the time then."

"Were you ever in a relationship with female vampires?"

"No because they are not numerous and most of them are self-centered bitches. I only had one night stands every now and then, just to fulfill my needs."

"With that red head too?" I wondered and he nodded. When he saw how the expression on my face changed, he said:

"Don't worry; she's dead to me now. You're the only one for me now."

_"The only one for me now,"_ I repeated in my head among tiny, contented tingles. So I wasn't the only one in love.

"Lawrence?" I asked.

"Hm?" he murmured.

"Does that mean you like me?"

I saw that he was puzzled. Maybe I had caught him by surprise. I continued talking because obviously he was still forming his answer, "Because I like you."

He brushed my cheek and answered, after biting his lower lip briefly, probably feeling nervous:

"Yeah, I figured out you would. And the answer is yes. I like you."

"So, are we...dating now?"

"Only if you want to date a dangerous vampire," he answered and smiled at me.

"You mean a handsome and charming," I corrected him and winked at him.

"Whoa...Stop with the compliments, I'm embarrassed."

"OK," I said and we kissed. Then I remembered something and suddenly asked him, "Could you even imagine you'd be dating me when you first saw me in that alley?"

"Honestly, not at all," he answered and crossed his legs, putting his ankle over his knee. I faked an insulted face expression; he smiled as he saw it and explained, "No, not in that way. I found you attractive but you're a mortal, you know?"

"Where did you come out from back then, anyway?"

"Well, here's how it happened. I left the bum maybe a minute before you appeared and I flew up to hide myself. I could've just let you leave but that's not the way vampires act. We must keep our existence a secret."

"So, you descended, scared me shitless, and played with me. Did you even think about attacking me?"

"You know, the more I looked at you, the more the idea that I had to do something about you became harder to remember."

"So, you liked me?"

"I think you could say that."

"I didn't notice."

"Well, I didn't have to drool over you, did I?"

"Oh, sorry; you're subtle. I'm the obvious one here."

"Something like that, yes," he confirmed and we laughed together.

"Why did you kiss me?"

"To make the cop go away, to fool him."

"Did you enjoy doing it?"

"You tell me," he answered and winked at me. "It was the best kiss I had had in a long time."

"To me too. Exciting, good, and dangerous at the same time."

"Dangerous? Me?" He asked theatrically and grinned.

"Yeah, you," I confirmed and smiled back.

"Am not!" He said childishly.

"Oh yes you are."

"Why? Just because I can drop a fang?" he asked and extended his fangs intentionally. I leaned in closer to his face and observed them, smiling all the time. When I touched the left one with the tip of with my index finger, Lawrence started smiling and he mused:

"You see; the only thing dangerous here is your behavior."

I ignored him as I traced the sharp tip of the tooth and suddenly, he retracted it and said:

"Show's over. What am I, an attraction?"

I pouted my lower lip and said:

"Why did you do that?"

"Because you pay more attention to the freaking tooth than to me," he answered and crossed his hands over his chest, pretending to be mad with me while looking away.

_"Anne, you don't have to be so childish_,_"_ I repeated his words from last night using his Welsh accent and burst into laughter.

_"Lawrence, don't teach me good manners,"_ he did the same, repeating my words in a highly pitched voice with a heavy British accent.

"I _don't_ talk like that," I answered.

"Oh, you _bloody_ do," he answered, again with the heavy accent. _Bloody_, just like _cheerio_, is one of the best words to say using a British accent. Practically anyone can say it and sound British, even Chinese people, I'm sure.

"Oh, you're _so_ gonna pay for saying that," I threatened and in a split second he was pushed down to lie on the sofa. When I jumped him and sat on him, I demanded, "Apologize."

"You see, now you're sounding even more British," he answered contently and stuck out his tongue.

"For a 221 year-old vampire, you're terribly childish," I said, sighed and continued casually, "Oh well. Don't tell me I didn't warn you."

Just then, I started tickling him like mad. Everywhere. I managed to find all his sensitive spots, starting with the winning armpit to the extra sensitive ribs. He was laughing so hard under my hands that the whole living room rang and the sofa beneath us trembled. When he ran out of air after a few minutes, he pleaded, still laughing as I continued tickling:

"OK, you don't sound British. I surrender! Stop tickling meeeeeeee!"

"Say it like you mean it," I answered and paid attention to his armpits.

"I solemnly...Honestly...Swear...That you...Don't sound...British!" he said between laughs.

I nodded, smiled, and answered:

"OK, I believe you."

We laughed together some more but just like I had used the opportunity to knock him down on the sofa earlier, he turned us so fast I didn't even realize it until he was sitting on me and grinning at me devilishly.

"Please don't. I'm so ticklish..." I pleaded.

"So am I...Payback time, baby..." he announced and started the same tickling treatment I gave him. Except he was more skillful and I was practically shrieking while laughing. Good thing I have tolerant neighbors.

After some time, he finally stopped and said:

"I think we're even now."

Still smiling and catching my breath, I reached with my hands around the back of his head to make him lean down to me.

"You're breathless, I really don't want to finish you off," he answered with a grin, resisting me pulling him down.

"Oh, shut up," I answered and pulled him down with more force so our lips crashed into each other, at my pleasure. We kissed for a long time and I wondered whether our position was unpleasant in a good way for him too. Just as I shoved my right hand under his shirt to stroke his back, his damn cell phone rang. He ignored it for a while and then made an irritated sound before pulling it out of his jeans' pocket. Gasping for air after passionate kissing, he answered it after all, still on top of me:

"You have the worst timing ever."

As he was waiting for the reply, probably from Jack, he smoothed the hair strands out of my face and I stroked his back. He smiled at me and continued talking into the phone:

"What the hell? Is he out of his mind? I'm not going anywhere."

After a short pause, he continued:

"Listen, even if, I don't know, the original Guns n' Roses were coming to perform in Tokyo I wouldn't go there now."

I was confused by his conversation but just as I wanted to ask what he was talking about, he said into the phone:

"Whatever, you go if you want to. I'm staying."

A few seconds later, he ended the conversation with a short:

"Fine."

Then he got up from me and I asked:

"What was that about?"

"Jack wants to go and visit our friend in Tokyo."

"You don't?"

"Well, you heard me," he answered.

"Are you staying because of me?" I asked and came closer to him.

"You bet. And because I don't feel like hanging around with his gay vampire friend there."

I chuckled and kissed him.

"I'm glad."

After he kissed me back, he said sarcastically:

"Guess what time it is...Your favorite..."

"Oh, it's the time when you leave," I realized and he nodded.

"Good night, sweetie," he said and the last word made butterflies in my stomach fly around like mad.

"Thanks honey," I answered, we kissed once more and then he left.


	17. Season Illness

_**A/N:**__ Thank you for following this story, I hope you like it. If you do, tell me in the reviews and enjoy reading this chapter. :)_

_**IMPORTANT NOTE:** I'm currently editing the further chapters with my beta reader and they aren't corrected or they don't fit in the current plotline because I had changed a lot things in the previously published story. So for now, all the further chapters are deleted and I'll publish them one by one again when they will be beta read. Stay tuned,_

_your Mimi :)  
_

**17****. Season Illness**

A week after my first date with Lawrence something completely normal happened to me, something that usually occurs two or three times a year. I got sick with a cold.

I woke up on Tuesday with an intense headache and I could feel that my nose was blocked. I thought that it was just my allergy to blossoming trees that usually struck me every spring. After all, the first day of spring had past so it was logical that my allergy was here again.

So I took two pills - one for the headache and one for the allergy and I felt better until I got to work. As soon as I was inside the museum, I started sneezing and my nose began running. Luckily, my boss's wife was there that day and she saw that I wasn't feeling well.

She ordered me to go home and stay there until I was healthy again, no matter how long it took. She also drove me home in her car and stopped on the way to buy some medicine for me. She dropped me off in front of my house and I had to run through the pouring rain to avoid getting sicker.

I dragged myself to the living room; feeling too exhausted to climb up the stairs, pulled out my cell from my bag and dialed the number that Lawrence had given me. I waited for him to answer and held the cell phone weakly while lying down on the sofa. Soon, I heard his voice:

"Hello?"

"It's me," I answered and coughed. "Did I wake you up?"

"It doesn't matter. What's wrong?" He asked me with a dry voice, sounding worried. Usually there would be no reason for me to call him during the day.

"You don't need to pick me up after work. I'm at home. I got sick."

"Oh. Would you like me to come over there later, then?"

"I don't want to infect you."

"I'm immune to all diseases."

"Come, then."

"I'll be there around twilight," he announced.

"See you."

"OK."

"Bye."

"Bye."

I ended the call and fell asleep on the sofa, still in my jacket and shoes.

. . .

I was in the museum, wandering around the ancient things in the showcases without any work to do, which was weird. Usually, I had loads of work on my hands. Now, the whole museum was empty, opened just for me. There were no curious tourists, no Frederick's orders, no museum tickets to be printed, and no other boring errands to do. Suddenly, as I passed from the ancient Greece pavilion to the Persian display, I heard a deafening bell ringing somewhere.

I woke up, squinted and realized that it was just a dream. A nerdy one. I guess I just couldn't believe that I didn't have to be at work. Again, I heard the ringing.

"Oh," I said to myself as I realized what was happening. It was the doorbell. I coughed to clear my throat up, feeling the headache again. I stood up and eyed the clothes that were still on me. The bell rang again.

"Coming!" I said with a raspy voice and walked to the door, my legs wobbly and unsure. I turned the key clockwise and unlocked the front door. Lawrence was there. Who knows how many hours I had slept?

"Hey," he said tenderly and came closer, seeing that I was weak. "How are you feeling?"

"I've had better days," I said and we went in, after he pushed the door closed.

"Were you at school or work?"

"Both. My boss's wife drove me home."

"Oh," he said and hugged me as I leaned forward with my head on his chest.

"You were sleeping?"

"Um-hum."

"Are you going to change?"

I coughed in his ear accidentally and said:

"Sorry for that. Yes, I would like to."

"I'll take you upstairs."

He lifted me up and carried me to my room. He set me on my feet and then went out into the hallway so that I could change into black sweatpants and a long sleeved dark green T-shirt. I blew my nose heavily and called for Lawrence:

"I'm done."

He came back in and I sat down on my bed, ranting:

"I'm tired. I think I'm going to sleep."

"OK," he said. "Do you want me to stay or do you want to be alone?"

"Stay. Can you bring me one of the pills from the bag on the floor in the living room and some water?"

"No problem," he said and vanished from my room. He returned quickly, bringing me what I had asked for. I drank the pill and set my head on the pillow, pulling my legs up on the bed lazily. As I closed my eyes, I felt lips brush against my cheek and the thick quilt covering my body.

. . .

When I woke up, I didn't know what time it was. I saw that my curtains were pulled against the window in my room so it was dark. I coughed and turned my head to the side, seeing that Lawrence was in bed with me, turned away with his back facing me. He stayed with me as I had asked him. I fell back asleep.

I woke up again when I felt someone's cold light touch on my forehead. I shivered and opened my eyes. Lawrence was feeling my forehead and he shook his head before saying in worry:

"You've got fever."

"What time is it?"

"Almost noon."

"You overslept?" I asked and blew my nose.

"Yes," he said and sat next to me on the bed. "Are you thirsty, hungry?"

"Thirsty. Can you make some tea for me?"

"Sure. Where do you keep the tea bags?"

"First cabinet on the left in the kitchen. Sugar is also there."

"OK. I'll be back soon."

He returned after a few minutes, bringing me the steaming teacup. He put it down on my nightstand.

"I picked mint. I remember it's good for cold," he explained.

"Thanks."

"Anything else, my patient?" He asked and smiled warmly while kneeling near me.

"I should call my friend."

He handed me my cell and I called Stacie.

"Hello? Anne?" She answered.

"It's me."

"Ditching?"

"No. I'm sick," I answered.

"Something serious or?"

"Plain cold."

"Oh. I'll drop by tomorrow."

"OK," I said.

"Gotta go now. Class is starting."

"OK. See you."

"Get well."

She ended the call and I put the cell on the nightstand. After drinking the tea, I asked Lawrence for some fruit from the kitchen and fell asleep again after eating a banana and an orange, curled in his arms although he seemed colder than usual.

. . .

We woke up the next day at around the same time. Anne lay turned with her back to me, squeezed next to me as if she was sitting on my lap in the bed. My left arm was under her head and the other one rested on her hips, beyond her own. We were both tucked under a warm sheet and quilt. A comfortable position.

She was sleepy. When she got up she made herself some breakfast, and after she left the kitchen I drank one of the two blood bags that I had packed myself, deciding not to take any risks that hid in starving. After that, I shaved my freshly grown beard and pulled on some clothes that I had brought with me. Soon Anne was asleep again. I made my afternoon shorter by reading the same book as the night before and watching some television.

Around six PM, someone rang the doorbell. I glanced behind the blinds on the kitchen window to see if there was sun. Fortunately, there wasn't. It still wasn't twilight but the whole day was quite cloudy. I didn't know whether I should wake Anne up or go and open the door myself. I wanted Anne to get better so I decided to deal with the guest on my own. It was supposed to be her best friend so it wasn't going to be hard. Before going to open the door, I dashed to the kitchen and ran some hot water over my palms to make them warm in case I had to shake hands.

I breathed in deep and opened the door after the bell rang once again, reminding myself to play it cool.

There was a girl about Anne's age with unnaturally dark red hair and blue eyes on the doorstep, holding something round and wrapped in aluminum foil in her hands. She was a little bit taller than Anne and a little bit skinnier. She gaped as I stood before her and spoke:

"Um...Did I miss the house or?" she asked. Obviously, the situation was weird to her. It was the same to me, too.

"You must be Stacie, right?" I asked with one brow up.

"Yes, and you are probably Anne's new boyfriend."

"Yes. I'm Lawrence."

"Well, where is Anne?" She asked with an approving smile.

"She was asleep but I think that she woke up."

"Can I come in?"

"Sure," I answered and she passed by me, handing me the thing in her hands. It was warm.

"I brought some chicken soup for Anne. Don't burn your hands," she said.

"Oh. OK," I said and went in, closing the door.

"I'll just go upstairs," she said and ran up the stairs to Anne's room, turning back to check me out from the top of the staircase.

_"That certainly went well,"_ I thought with ease.

. . .

I heard a distant voice calling my name and trying to wake me up from my delusional dream that made no sense, just like the ones I always have while I'm sick. All that I dreamt about were freaky colors and surreal places.

"Anne?"

I didn't want to wake up. I wanted to keep my head on my pillow, which had become my best friend, and to continue having my necessary rest.

"Anne?

The voice was there again. Soon I felt that someone was shaking my shoulder.

"Lawrence, let me sleep. I'm tired," I mumbled, still without opening my eyes.

"It's Stacie. Wake up, sleepy head," I heard my best friend's voice and jerked my eyes open immediately. Jeez, if she was with me in my room, that meant that Lawrence opened the door for her, spoke with her, maybe shook hands with her. Oh my God. Did she realize that something was suspicious? I hoped that she didn't.

"How did you get in?" I asked her. After all, maybe Lawrence had gone to his place to get something and Stacie did know where I held my spare key outside. She knew that it was under a big flowerpot that had a bush of lavender planted inside.

Stacie's facial expression showed her opinion about Lawrence as she answered:

"Your_ boyfriend_ opened the door for me," she exclaimed the word so it sounded as if she was amazed. She giggled and continued: "Now I know why you wanted to keep him for yourself."

I decided to check what was she talking about to avoid misunderstanding, although I was almost completely sure that all she was talking about was Lawrence's handsomeness.

"Why?" I asked and cleared my sore throat.

"Um...Hello! I haven't seen someone that handsome since...Well, since yesterday when I was with Joshua."

I chuckled and asked:

"Really?"

"You're kidding me? Where did you find him? For God's sake, so handsome and single," she held her mouth open and then added, correcting herself while she still could: "Not anymore, though."

"I guess I was very lucky," I stated and reached for a handkerchief from the nightstand. As I was blowing my nose, Stacie repeated:

"Very, very lucky."

"So, is he downstairs?"

"I guess," Stacie said and then pulled out dozens of papers from her bag, handing them to me, saying, "Today and yesterday's notes, copied."

"Thanks," I said and eyed the papers as I held them. Oh, joy. They did so much in two days that I was already seriously running behind.

"I also brought you some homemade chicken soup."

As she said that, I stared at her in shock. Generally, Stacie was able to mess up things in the kitchen as no one I knew could. Turning perfectly good pasta to floury and salty water, putting salt in the coffee and trying to cook eggs in the microwave were her specialties. She smiled widely as she saw how I looked at her and explained:

"Don't worry. My mom made it."

"Oh. Good."

She laughed with me and then asked:

"Are you getting any better?"

"Slowly but surely."

"Is the stud helping you with that?" She asked me and winked. I smiled, feeling my cheeks burn. My door opened and saved me when Lawrence stood by it.

"Speak of the devil..." I said casually. He smiled to me and asked:

"I wondered if you were hungry. Your friend brought you some soup."

"I am," I nodded and got up slowly, putting my robe on. Stacie followed me and then all three of us walked down the stairs.

Lawrence went to kitchen, leaving Stacie and me in the hall in front of the door, I guess in order to remain as inconspicuous as he could. Stacie said briefly:

"I think I'm gonna go now." Then she glanced over my shoulder into the kitchen and called to Lawrence: "Hey! Keep some of that soup for the patient."

I looked over my shoulder into the kitchen, where Lawrence was tasting the soup for the show.

"You got it," he called back and smiled, putting the used spoon down in the sink.

"Well, enjoy the soup, catch up on schoolwork, and get well. I miss you on the classes," Stacie said on her exit.

"I'll try," I said and then she went out, closing the door behind her. Soon I heard her drive away and I strolled into the kitchen lazily, held Lawrence around his waist, and said approvingly:

"My, aren't you charming and convincing?"

"A little?" He asked me with a funny face and bent down to kiss me. "Slept well?"

"Like a rock.

"So, the friend is approving me?" He checked.

"Definitely. Now, can I get some of that soup?"

. . .

Four days later, I was totally healthy again. The only thing that I missed about my cold was Lawrence staying with me the whole day. Yes, all six days of my disease he stayed with me. So, after Sunday's sunset, it was the time to return to our old routine, meeting only after my work.


	18. Homecoming

_**A/N:**__ Someone is coming back home in this chapter..._

_**P.S.**__ There's some Swedish language used in this chapter, so use the translation on the end of the chapter to understand the lines in Swedish. They are at the end of the chapter because I'm not quite sure if FanFiction allows using the footnotes or not. And no, I don't speak Swedish, but Google Translator does. XD_

_Do I have to remind you to review? :)_

**18. Homecoming**

The week after my cold, on Friday evening, Stacie drove me home. Lawrence was once again busy with his vampire hunting activities with Jack. During my sickness he lost a lot of time, so he wanted to do as much as possible before Easter, which was in two days.

I was home alone and I had nothing smart to do. I really wasn't in the mood for studying, and actually I had no exams to study for, so I sat in front of the TV and shuffled through a lot of channels until I found something that suited me House MD reruns. Perfect. A daily dose of sarcasm. I lay back and enjoyed Hugh Laurie's brilliant acting.

Somewhere around ten o'clock, my phone rang, playing "Heartache Every Moment" by HIM; my favorite song at the time. I stretched my arm to the coffee table while laughing at one of the hilarious lines from the show and looked at the caller ID. Lawrence. I smiled and snapped the slide cell open to accept the call.

"Yeeeeeeees?" I purred as I held the cell near my ear.

"How is my girl doing home alone?" Lawrence asked me.

"Well...She misses you," I admitted.

"I miss her, too."

"OK..." I said. "Enough with the third person weirdness. How is it going out there?"

"We're having a pause now. We got rid of one asshole and we're going to search for other ones."

"Watched too much Buffy, you dangerous slayer?" I asked amusingly.

"Not even one episode," he said proudly and then I heard a car pulling over outside of my house. I got up from the sofa and said, "Hey, I think someone just stopped by my house. I'll call you later, OK?

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you more," I said and ended the call before going to check what was going on outside. As I stood on the doorstep after opening the door, I saw my guests. One of them was invited, but two of them weren't.

The car was a metallic grey C-class Mercedes with Swedish registration plates. Stockholm, actually. The driver was, of course, my foster dad Georg and he was just taking the suitcases out of the car trunk. Next to him, there stood two women who looked like they fell straight out of the movie _Legally Blonde_. One was an over-tanned peroxide blonde in her late thirties or maybe early forties; I couldn't tell her exact age because of her obvious use of Botox. She was wearing hideously high white stilettos, a little black dress, and a waist-length white jacket.

The other one had an identical tan and hair shade as the first one, but she was around my age and wearing washed out skinny jeans, leopard fur patterned stilettos and a golden leather jacket.

Oh. My. God. Please tell me Georg didn't get married.

"Annie!" He said cheerfully as he walked towards me and gave me a bear hug. He was wearing his usual formal clothes, a dark blue suit and a light shirt, this time without a tie. "My, haven't you changed?"

He looked at me and I answered:

"I guess I have," I smiled before asking him quietly. "And who are they?"

He gestured to them to come over. As they stood in front of us, he said:

"This is Aleksandra and her daughter Yvetta. I am dating Aleksandra."

The blonde-haired women smiled at me, although I wasn't sure that their smiles were as sincere as they should've been. Then they shook hands with me, although hesitantly. Both of them had hideous artificial nails. Yuck.

"Bra kväll," (1) they squealed in Swedish.

"They are saying..." Georg started, thinking that I didn't know what they had said to me. I cut him off:

"...good evening. I know Swedish, don't you remember?"

I had learned Swedish when I was adopted by Millie and Georg and it was my second language. I even wanted to get a degree in Swedish Language but in the end, I decided to take Archeology and English.

"Oh. Jag glömde," (2) Georg said and shook his head, smiling.

"Trevligt att träffas," (3) I forced myself to let those words for the two strangers cross my mouth.

"Pleasure is all ours; isn't it, Yvetta?" Aleksandra asked and smiled to her daughter before complimenting, "Georg, darling, you have a lovely foster daughter."

"I know," Georg nodded and held my shoulders. "Would you take them inside while I grab the luggage?

"Sure," I said and went in, calling back to the Swedish chicks, "Kom in." (4)

Their heels click-clacked behind as they followed me. I guided them to the living room and asked politely:

"Can I offer you some refreshment? Water, juice, tea, coffee?"

"Do you have bottled water?" Yvetta (or however she was called) asked me as both of them sat on the sofa.

"I ran out of it," I answered.

"A juice will be fine," her mother said. I went to the kitchen and took out two glasses to pour them some cold orange juice from the fridge. As I put them on the coffee table, Yvetta snorted and commented to herself:

"I am _so_ not drinking that. I can't consume so much sugar." Did I mention that she was anorexic, too?

"Behave," Aleksandra reminded her but the juice was left untouched. I sighed and went to check how Georg was doing. As I exited the living room he was just entering the hall, pulling a few suitcases behind him.

"Here. Let me help you," I offered and took two very ugly pieces of luggage with a Louis Vuitton pattern printed on fake brown leather.

"Thanks, sweetie," he said as we walked up the stairs. We put the luggage down in his room and then I went to my own, explaining, "Coming right back."

I shut the door behind me and sighed as I dialed Lawrence's number, leaning outside on the opened window. I waited a little for his answer. Finally, he spoke:

"So, who parked the car outside?"

"My foster father. And you're not going to believe this. Two blonde gold diggers came with him."

"Gold diggers as in... Wild West?"

"No," I answered and chuckled, although I was sure that he knew what I was talking about. "Parasites who live on other's money."

"Oh. But at least your foster father is there, too. I'm sure you are glad to see him.

"I am," I said as I traced the window ledge with my fingers. "Hey...I think it would be better if you don't come over here tonight."

"OK," he answered with a neutral voice. I could tell he wasn't happy with my decision.

"I would like you to come but it might be too risky. They might hear that I'm not alone and..."

"I know."

"OK. Call me tomorrow."

"Sure. Must go. Vampire ahead of us."

"Take care of yourself, would you?" I worried as I remembered the occasion when he came to pick me up after work with his shirt torn and bloody.

"I will, don't worry. Night."

"Goodnight."

I went back down to the living room unwillingly. Georg was there, talking about something with his _date_ and her daughter. As I came in, they looked at me and Georg said:

"We were just speaking about a place where Yvetta could sleep and..."

"...the sofa is comfortable," I cut him off. No way was I going to have her in my room, sleeping in my bed.

"Are you sure?" Georg asked and checked a little, patting the sofa.

"Oh, yes," I explained. "Stacie has slept on it numerous times and you know that I'm a loud sleeper. I don't want Yvetta to lose any sleep and I can't let her use my bed because I have some work to do in my room."

They eyed me. Yvetta was obviously not content with the fact that she was going to sleep on the sofa, while Georg and Aleksandra plainly shrugged their shoulders.

"OK, then," Yvetta accepted hesitantly. I went to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea while calling back:

"Are you hungry?"

"I could use a light snack," Georg told me while the women stayed silent.

"OK, knock yourself out. The fridge is well stocked," I said as he rifled through the fridge. Aleksandra and Yvetta went upstairs, probably to unpack their suitcases.

"You got any bread?" Georg asked me as he took a plate with sliced ham out from the fridge.

"Um-hum," I said as I took the bread out from the wooden breadbox in the corner. "It is full grain, you don't mind?"

"No, I actually prefer that kind."

I cut him two slices of bread and he made himself a sandwich. I didn't know how to start the necessary conversation, so I decided to be direct:

"Hey, how long have you been in a relationship with that lady?"

"Two months, I think."

"Oh. And how is the business going?"

"Very good. We're growing constantly."

Georg's business produced car batteries. He has cooperated with many well-known giants in car industry, such as Volvo, and he gained respect for the quality of his products really soon after their first launch on the market.

"And Aleksandra is surely with you because of love?" I asked, being suspicious.

"How do you mean?

"Just forget it. I'm talking crap," I said, not wanting to provoke any friction. I knew that Georg was a wise man who knew how to read people really well, and I knew he would read Aleksandra, too. Plus, I wasn't sure that my assumption about Aleksandra was true.

I took my cup and strolled out of the kitchen, after kissing my father's cheek.

"I'm tired. Goodnight."

"Night, Anne. Sleep tight," he told me and took the first bite of his sandwich, still confused by my earlier words. I went up to my room and locked the door. Soon, I crashed into my bed and fell asleep.

. . .

The next morning around eleven o'clock, I got up and went down to the kitchen silently to fix some breakfast for myself. I heard snoring in Georg's room and I didn't want to wake anybody up. Silently, I almost entered the kitchen when I heard quiet talking there.

I stood behind the kitchen door and started eavesdropping. Although they were talking to each other in Swedish and not in English, I recognized what Aleksandra and Yvetta were talking about. They were obviously at the end of their discussion and I listened to them, translating the talk in my head. I instinctively took my phone out of my pocket and recorded almost the whole conversation, just to have proof. They seemed too suspicious to me from the moment I first saw them.

"Mom, how long are we going to be in this shit house? My back hurts because of the damn sofa. If she thought it was so comfortable, why didn't she sleep on it?" Yvetta complained, irritated. I chuckled silently.

"Oh, don't act as if you're spoiled. We lived in much worse conditions until we squeezed the money out of the last idiot I was with. My eyes bulged out, realizing that my assumptions about them were true. They really were gold diggers.

"I know but..." Yvetta sounded irritated again. "Why didn't we stay in a hotel or something like that?"

"Patience. We'll probably go back home on Monday."

"It's too long!"

"Shut up, brat. I'm doing all this for you. He has to think that I really love him and when he does I'll take his money when we get back home, OK?"

"OK, Mom."

I breathed in deep as I heard their plan. I ran up the stairs back to my room as silently as I could without being heard by those Swedish bitches and closed the door.

"What now?" I asked myself as I entered the room. I had to stop them in their plan. The only problem was that I didn't know how to do that.

_TRANSLATIONS:_

_1."Good evening."_

_2. "I forgot."_

_3. "Nice to meet you."_

_4. "Come on in."_


	19. Family Issues

_**A/N:**__ Hi!_

_A new chapter! Yay! Let's see how our heroine sorts out the situation! :) I hope you'll like the chapter; if you do, make sure to review and make me happppppppy :D Bye now! :)_

**19. Family Issues**

I tried not to think about the things that I had heard earlier that morning and after an hour or so, I went down again to get some breakfast hearing the hungry growling in my stomach. No one was in the living room or the kitchen so I guessed Yvetta was in the bathroom and Aleksandra upstairs with Georg. I poured some milk into a bowl with oat flakes inside and put the bowl in the microwave. Georg yawned quite loud as he entered the kitchen. I turned around and said:

"Good morning."

"Morning..." he said lazily and plopped himself down on a chair next to the table before asking, "No breakfast for the old man, eh?"

"What would you like?"

"What are you making for yourself?"

"Usual oats with milk. I'll add grated apple later."

"Sounds good. Can you make some for me, too?"

"Sure," I said as I took another bowl from a kitchen cabinet. My oats were done and the microwave beeped. As I peeled an apple to grate into the bowl, I heard a question:

"How have things been here since Christmas? College, work..."

"College is going as smooth as it can," I said as I popped his bowl with milk and oats into the microwave. "The boss is cranky as always, but the job is good. At least it is interesting."

"What about love? You're still dating that rocker guy?"

"Um...No. We broke up two months ago."

"Did he treat you right?"

"Well, no," I answered. "That's why we broke up."

"Anyone new in your life?"

"Actually, yes," I said.

"Nice. Such a lovely girl can't be alone. It would be a shame," he said and then added, "And I never liked your ex."

I put his bowl in front of him and gave him a spoon before sitting down across the table. We ate together.

"So, what are your plans? How long are you staying?" I asked, to be sure how much time I had to fix things with Aleksandra and Yvetta.

"We'll take a Monday evening flight back to Stockholm."

"Oh. OK."

"And you? What are you up to today?" He was curious.

"I think I'll hit the gym later with Stacie"

"Healthy life, eh? OK, but don't make any plans for this evening. I'm taking you girls out to a fine dinner at eight o'clock."

"Fine as in through the roof prices and formal dress code, including high heels and dresses?" I asked.

"Kind of," he admitted as he ate a spoonful of his breakfast.

"Deal, but only because I haven't seen you for so long. You know that I hate to dress up like I'm going to a wedding or something."

"Thanks; sunshine," he said and then nodded approvingly before complimenting the contents of his bowl, "This is great."

"I know," I said and continued eating as I saw Yvetta enter the living room and collapse down on the sofa lazily with a side-glance at me.

. . .

Later that day, I went to the gym with Stacie, just as I planned. I had too much negative energy that needed to be thrown out of me and exhausting exercise was the best way to get rid of it.

After more than an hour of riding a bike, punching the bag, running on the treadmill, lifting some light weights and taking a shower to wash the sweat off, I went home completely exhausted. Then I went to sleep until the evening, after texting Lawrence that I had to go out to dinner with Georg and the gold diggers so that he could organize his time without me. The fact that we were probably not going to see each other that night didn't particularly suit me. Or him.

I woke up somewhere around half past six o'clock and went down to fix myself a big cup of coffee to wake up completely before starting to prepare myself for the upcoming dinner.

In the living room, Aleksandra and Yvetta were sitting on the sofa boasting about the dresses that they wanted to wear to dinner. Aleksandra was holding a red cocktail dress and Yvetta a pink one. The shoes were of course as hideously high as the ones that they wore the night before when they arrived.

I was too sleepy and too cranky to talk to them but that didn't prevent Yvetta from asking me:

"And what are you going to wear, Anne?"

I rolled my eyes while turned away from her and answered briefly:

"I'll pick something out of the closet."

If Lawrence was the kind of vampire who attacked mortals on impulse and just to keep himself entertained, I would have called him right away to come over and get rid of them. That's how much they annoyed me. If stupidity hurt, they would've been panting and screaming in pain. Plus the stupidity, they were twofaced, too.

I sighed to calm down and I decided to take care of them by myself later. I went back up to my room with the cup of steaming coffee with milk and went to wash my hair. I wanted to dress up so well that it would be an example to my uninvited guests on how to dress up like a real lady and not a twat. And I was going to do that. I was _so_ going to do that.

So, I washed my hair, blow dried it and then went to find an outfit in the closet. I picked my prom dress that still suited me as on my prom night. It was an under the knee length, petroleum blue strapless satin dress, quite wide on the section below the waist. On top of it, I decided to wear a dark grey bolero because it was chilly outside. The shoes that I chose were my favorite pair of plain black, three inch stilettos.

I applied some makeup cautiously, made a very loose and casual up-do with my hair, decorated it with a few hair accessories in a color matching the dress and also put some elegant earrings on. When it was time, I put my clothes on, slid into my shoes and put all the necessary things into a black clutch bag, making sure not to forget my cell and the headphones that were crucial for my plan. After I sprinkled a few drops of my favorite fragrance on my wrists, on top of my chest and behind the ears, Georg knocked on my door a few times and asked from outside:

"Are you ready, Anne?"

"Coming," I called back and went out after casting a short glance at the mirror to check how I looked. Nice, I think.

I went down the stairs and as I slowly approached them, Georg and the Swedish parasites looked at me in awe. Georg was wearing a grey suit with a light blue shirt. The women wore the aforementioned red and pink dresses and looked very cheap.

Georg commented with a smile, "It's like you're going to the prom again."

I stood by him and said:

"Yeah, I can't believe the dress still fits me. Are we ready?"

"Sure," he answered and we all went out. I went towards the car after Georg and sat in the passenger's seat. Aleksandra snorted, obviously discontent with my action, but I ignored her. I had a feeling that the evening before us was going to end up with a similar snort from her and Yvetta, or maybe with an even more unpleasant one.

. . .

We had a nice dinner at the restaurant. The food was very good, just as it should have been due to the high prices. After eating the appetizers and the main course, we waited for the ordered dessert. I wasn't a mean person overall but I was really looking forward to the thing that I was going to do to the two gold diggers sitting across from me. My family, whether foster or not, was sacred to me and there was nothing that I wouldn't do to protect her members in any way.

As the waiter put down the plates with our desserts in front of us, I picked a little at the dark chocolate cake. It was very good. Then I pulled out my cell and headphones from the clutch. Georg looked at me in wonder, unsure whether I was so bored that I wanted to listen to music while eating my cake.

I searched for the recording on my cell and when I found it and heard it for myself to make sure that it was easy to hear what Aleksandra and Yvetta were saying on it, I spoke to Georg, trying to arrange my words carefully:

"Dad?" I asked him, although I rarely used that noun to refer to him. Saying the word father or dad reminded me of the painful memory of my real parents.

"Yes, Anne?"

"Do you remember my question from yesterday, the one about Aleksandra and her love for you?" I asked with my right brow up.

"Yes."

"Well, here I have something that will answer that question for you. Listen carefully."

I handed him the headphones and he stuck them into his ears. Aleksandra almost choked on a bite of her cake but Georg ignored her, seeing in my eyes that the situation was serious and that I was going to let him know something really important. As I pressed the play button, Aleksandra and Yvetta threw hysterical side looks at each other.

Georg's facial expression changed from one moment to another as he listened to the recording. His face became beet red in anger and when the recording ended he pulled out the headphones in one brisk move and asked me, glaring at Aleksandra and Yvetta, burning holes in their faces with his furious eyes:

"Anne, is this really what they said?"

"Yes. This morning in the kitchen, while you were asleep."

"You little..." Aleksandra started angrily.

Georg interrupted her when he lifted his index finger up in anger to make her shut up. He took out a few bills from his pocket, handed them to me and stood up before asking, "Can you pay the bill?"

"Sure. And I think that I'm not coming home tonight. I'll be at my boyfriend's place," I said, although I wasn't sure if Lawrence was going to accept my plan. I really didn't want to witness the fight that was going to happen between Georg, Aleksandra and Yvetta.

"OK. See you tomorrow," he said calmly and kissed my cheek at goodbye. "And you two hypocrites follow me."

He walked out from the restaurant furiously and Aleksandra followed after him, along with Yvetta. I breathed in deep and knew that I'd just released my father from them. I stayed a little longer to eat up my dessert and dialed Lawrence's number, hoping that he wasn't busy with hunting. When he answered my call, I asked him immediately:

"Where are you?"

"At my place. Why?"

"I need you to come pick me up and let me crash at your place. Things will probably get ugly tonight at my house."

"Why?"

"I've just opened Georg's eyes."

"Oh. OK. Where are you?"

I explained to him where the restaurant was located, ended the call and paid the bill with the money that Georg left me, tipping the waiter generously. I walked outside the restaurant and waited a little. The metallic grey Mercedes was gone, so Georg obviously drove back home.

After ten minutes maybe, Lawrence finally arrived. As he walked towards me, his expression told me that he liked what he saw.

"Oh. My. God," he commented as he stood before me. You look stunning."

I smiled, feeling very self-confident because of his compliment.

"Thanks."

"Wait," he said and moved his index finger in a circular motion. "Would you turn around for me?"

I did as he told me, turning around to make a full angle, careful on my high heels. When I faced him again, he came closer and kissed me. This time I was less short then I usually was, and it was nice for a change.

"You know, you should wear high heels all the time. My neck tends to hurt because of all the bending down to you when we kiss," Lawrence told me.

I punched his shoulder lightly with my clutch bag and said:

"I'm high enough. It's not my fault that you're as tall as a basketball player."

"I guess. Are you sure that you want to come over to my place?"

"I told you. I know that the atmosphere will be really tense at my house and I don't want to listen to the fight."

"OK, then."

We started walking but when we found a place where no one could see us, he picked me up in his arms and we flew. I tried hard not to let my shoes slip off while I was in the air. Fortunately, I managed and when Lawrence set me on my feet I still had both of them on. We entered a high, old brownstone building and started going up the long staircase; the elevator was busted.

As Lawrence unlocked the door of one of the three apartments on the seventh story I heard noises from inside, something like the ones that you hear during a Formula 1 race on TV.

When we stepped inside, there was a blonde man sitting on the black sofa with his back turned away from us, playing video games. It was Jack, I supposed.

"Jack, it's me. Anne came with me. Is that OK with you?" Lawrence said.

Jack turned around on the sofa, smiled widely and said:

"Anne! It's nice to finally meet you."

He stood up and walked towards Lawrence and me. Just like Lawrence, Jack was also quite charming and handsome and just as tall, but still; Lawrence was ahead of him, both in charm and good looks. I never liked blonde guys, they simply weren't my type.

I wasn't sure if he was as calm and harmless as Lawrence usually was so I answered, with a nervous grin curving my lips upwards:

"Nice to meet you, too."

Then, he bent forward and kissed the top of my hand. Weird. Old fashioned, too. Lawrence chuckled and said to him:

"Back off, Ferrell."

"As you say, Hashbury," Jack answered, turned to me and said, "Come on in, Anne. Make yourself at home."

Boy...That was going to be interesting. Sleeping over in an apartment with two vampires.


	20. Sleep Over

_**A/N: **__Hey guys!_

_Here comes the new chapter...I no longer have to study for my exams, not until the end of August, so I'll have much more time to write. Yay! BTW I'll soon start publishing a new vampires fanfic so stay tuned; I think you might like it :D_

_So, enjoy the chapter...And review to tell me your opinion :)_

_Bye now!_

**20. Sleep Over**

Jack turned out to be really amusing and nice and after a few minutes of talking with him, I relaxed completely. Sure, there were a lot of dangerous and bloodthirsty vampires in London, committing crimes on a daily basis; but the only two vampires that I knew were nothing like that. Besides, Lawrence was near in case Jack went crazy. Speaking of craziness, Jack cracked jokes all the time and most of them were so freaking hilarious that I laughed so hard that my stomach ached like hell.

I was sitting on the black sofa next to Jack as Lawrence went to the kitchen while asking him:

"Did you bring any breakfast?"

I chuckled and Jack called back to Lawrence:

"In the fridge. O negative, your favorite." That was my blood type. Weird. Or just a coincidence.

"Good, you've finally learned not to take AB anymore," Lawrence commented. I turned around and watched what he was doing. He cut the top of the blood bag off and poured the blood into a cup before putting the cup in the microwave.

"Well, it's the rarest type, so it wouldn't be OK, right?" Jack said.

I watched him play on his obviously new Playstation 3 and asked casually:

"Video game junkie?"

He nodded while smiling, his eyes locked on the plasma in front of us.

"And you? Do you play anything?" He asked me.

"Used to, before I started going to college. Adventures mostly."

"Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia and so on?"

"Yeah," I said.

In the background, there was a microwave beep. Jack pressed pause on the gamepad and said to me:

"Then I've got the right thing for you." He got up, found a DVD case and popped a new DVD into the Playstation, taking out the one that was inside. "New Prince. Wanna give it a try?"

"Um...Sure," I said. I couldn't remember when I had last played a video game. The game loaded and Jack handed me the gamepad, instructing me as to what button did what, "This one is for jumping, this one for attacking, this for blocking...You move with this."

"I know," I said and started playing from the beginning. Lawrence soon sat next to us in an armchair, also in the same fake black leather as the sofa. He held a cup of warmed up blood in his hands and sipped a little every now and then. I expected to be repelled by that, but I was completely neutral. After all, at least he didn't kill mortals in order to feed himself.

As I played, completely focused on the game, Jack asked me, surely noticing my outfit:

"So, what made you come over here tonight? And _so_ dressed up?"

"I was out to dinner with my dad, Georg, and his guests."

"Hey, you didn't tell me..." Lawrence reminded me. "How did you reveal their plan?"

"Oh..." I said as I started fighting against the other game characters. "I eavesdropped on their conversation about it and I recorded it with my cell. I let Georg listen to the recording tonight."

"Clever," Lawrence noticed. "And where are the gold diggers now?"

"I really don't care. The most important thing to me is that they are busted," I said indifferently.

I played a little bit more but eventually I got bored with the game so I handed the gamepad back to Jack.

"I've had enough, thanks," I told him.

"You sure have some gaming skills, girl," he complimented and smiled widely.

"Yes, unlike you; you repeat one level at least fifty times..." Lawrence said and rolled his eyes.

"So, that's the reason you hate this game?" Jack asked him.

"Well...Duh!" Lawrence answered and slapped his forehead. I laughed.

"Hey, do you have anything to drink except water?" I asked him, feeling the dryness of my throat.

"There should be some blueberry juice in the fridge," he said and got up, vanished to the kitchen at inhuman speed and came back with a glass full of dark purple juice. "Here you go."

Jack pretended to be coughing as I took the glass from Lawrence and then he muttered:

"Show-off."

I laughed and drank some of the juice.

About half an hour later, Lawrence and I retired to his room. As we entered, I told him, eyeing the interior:

"The wall color is so nice." It was dark, dark blue, like the color of the cloudless night sky.

"And this one is very nice, too," Lawrence said as he slid his hand down my dress. I used my newly attained height and kissed him.

"Do you have something for me to wear to sleep?" I asked him as I let him go.

"I would prefer you naked, but..." He said with an impish grin as he turned around to check if he had anything in his closet. I blushed to the roots of my hair and hoped that the redness would go away before he turned back to me. He took out a big shirt with the Guns n Roses logo on the front and a black piece of fabric that I couldn't recognize. "Here...Shirt from the 90's and a pair of boxers that are too small for me..."

He looked at me and smiled. Obviously my face was still flushed.

"What is it?" He asked me.

"Your dirty talk, that's what it is..." I answered and took the clothes from him.

"If you thought that was dirty talking, let me tell you something." He leaned near to my ear, tickling me with his breath as he whispered, "That was nothing."

After feeling his lips brush my earlobe, I shivered, unscrambled my brain and asked him:

"Where is the bathroom?"

"There," he said and pointed with his finger at the only door except the one through which we had entered his room.

I went inside the bathroom and wanted to check my looks automatically after closing the door. My hair and makeup still looked good; the only thing that was bad was my blush but there was nothing I could do about it except calm down.

I looked in the cabinet above the sink and checked its contents curiously. Typical for men - an electric razor, toothbrush and toothpaste, fragrance (mmm, smells so good), comb, scissors, aftershave lotion, hair wax, blow drier and a little bottle of mouth wash.

I put the shirt and the boxers that I got from Lawrence down on the dry sink and sighed. _"Too small for me..."_ was Lawrence's line about his boxers that rolled in my head continuously. Were they too tight, or just too small? I blushed again. _"Anne, you filthy pervert."_

I took my bolero jacket off, then did the same with the dress and hung it cautiously, careful not to wrinkle it. I put on the huge shirt that came down under my knees and smelled like Lawrence and then brought it up to my nose to enjoy the scent as I pulled the boxers on with the other hand.

When I was finally done, I only had to take out the accessories from my hair and let it down from the loose bun, but I didn't feel like doing it by myself. So I picked my clothes up in my hands and went out to the room. When I walked in, Lawrence was by the open window, gazing outside. I put the dress across the armchair in the corner; put the bolero over it and the stilettos on the floor.

I went to Lawrence and held him around the waist from behind, my face in his back; feeling the coldness of his back radiating through the material of his black T-shirt.

"What is it, foxy?" He asked me, still looking to the distance.

"Foxy needs help with her hair," I said and stroked his stomach with my thumbs.

"No problem," he said as he closed the window and arranged the dark blinds against it to make sure the sun would not enter the room after dawn. He turned to me and went with me to the bed, saying, "Sit."

I sat down, with my back turned to him and soon felt his agile fingers in my hair.

"Tell me what to do first or you'll lose a lot of hair in my attempt," he mused.

"Take that blue decoration out," I said; talking about the little butterfly covered with fake little gemstones. I could feel as he took it out cautiously and gave it to me. "Now, search for little black hairpins."

He began tapping through my hair and pulled out almost two dozen of the little metal hairpins, setting my hair loose.

"Is that all?" He asked me as he ruffled my hair to check if there were any hairpins left. I always liked a scalp massage so I leaned back against him and murmured:

"Yes, but don't stop. It's so good..."

"As you wish, foxy," he told me and continued rubbing my scalp lightly with the tips of his fingers.

"Why foxy?"

"Because you're very witty," he answered and laughed quietly with me. Tiny goose bumps appeared on my skin. "So, I see you like to be massaged?"

"Oh, yes." As I said that, his fingers went down to my shoulders and started massaging them gently, making my tense muscles relax. I sighed out, completely relaxed. "So, how was your day? Any hunting?"

"No, Jack was cranky and we always go hunting together. It's much easier."

"And how do you kill the vampires that you find?"

"Same old - stake through the heart."

"Do you make the stakes?"

"We improvise. Mostly, we break a broom's handle or something like that and use it."

"Wait..." I told him as I remembered the occasion when he killed a vampire in front of me in the cemetery, using a traditional stake. "Where did you get the stake that you killed the vampire in the cemetery with, when I was with you?"

"I took it with me that night. I knew that I was going to need it because the cemetery has always been a vampire magnet."

He stopped massaging me, and I turned around to ask him:

"Why did you stop?"

He shrugged his shoulders and said:

"I thought that you had enough."

"But I didn't."

"Do you want me to continue, then?"

"Actually, no."

He lifted his brow up, wondering what I actually did want, and said:

"OK then. I'm going to take a shower while you decide."

"Go ahead," I told him and he went to the bathroom, closing the door and locking it behind him.

I felt bored so I got up and started snooping around the room. I took the old, framed family painting from the nightstand. The figures in it looked almost exactly as I imagined them to be when Lawrence told me about them. Lawrence looked almost the same; only his hair was slightly shorter and cut into a conventional hairstyle for 18th century. His little sister Rosie had a neat bob haircut and looked adorable. Maryanne Hashbury looked quite worn out, but still had a nice face with nice features and beautiful black hair, same as Lawrence's. Alistair, Lawrence's father, wasn't quite like him. Obviously, Lawrence inherited his looks from his mother.

Then I remembered something that I wanted to find out. Silently, I went out from the room to get some more juice from the fridge and to check something.

As I walked into the living room, I saw that the light was off and the plasma still on. Jack was still sitting in front of it, watching a soccer match and drinking something from a glass with ice cubes.

"Ahem..." I made a sound to make him aware of the fact that I was in the same room. "I'll just take some more juice."

"Knock yourself out," he said approvingly with a short glance at me. I took the juice carton from the fridge and came to the sofa. I asked, "Do you have some time? I need to ask you a few questions. But don't tell Lawrence that I asked you, OK?"

"Sure. Sit," he said as he tapped the empty space next to him on the sofa. I nodded and sat down, arranging the shirt on me out of nervousness. "So, what are you interested in?"

I put the juice carton on the coffee table in front of us and asked:

"I want to know...Lawrence spoke about me with you, didn't he?" I asked and he nodded back in response. "I want to know something. He already told me but I want to be sure. What intentions does he have with me?"

I didn't actually doubt Lawrence's intentions, but I wanted to be one hundred percent sure.

"Well...First of all..." Jack started. "I'm not a gossip guy but I'll tell you. The week he met you, he changed. A lot. Overall, he was never honestly happy since I met him; he was constantly bitter although he pretended not to be. Sure, he sometimes hung out with some female vampires just to cut his loneliness down, but he never loved any of them."

He continued talking after taking a short sip from his glass. It was blood inside, of course. He obviously preferred it cold, unlike Lawrence.

"You know, a vampire can either love you very much or hate you very much. There's nothing in between. I think that you know what Lawrence feels for you, then."

"So, he's not with me just because one day I might give him my blood?"

"If he wanted your blood, he would've killed you on the night he ran into you. So that's obviously not the reason. Besides, I'm pretty sure that he would refuse to bite you, even if you asked him to do so."

"Oh."

"On the other hand, I'll always be willing to do that in case he turns you down," he said with a playful grin that revealed his fangs in the light of the television. I jumped away from the sofa, picked my juice up from the table and called back, with a tiny trace of hysteria in my voice:

"No thanks."

As I tiptoed quickly back to Lawrence's room, I heard Jack laughing at my reaction. I opened the door and saw Lawrence pulling his white undershirt on. As he saw me entering the room, he asked:

"Where did you go?"

"Just went to get some more juice," I answered, deciding to skip telling him that I spoke with Jack.

"Did Jack bother you?"

"Not at all," I answered and came to him. I curled my hands around his neck and kissed him passionately.

"And what was that for?" He asked me when I let him go.

"Just because," I answered and kissed him again.


	21. Farewell

_**A/N: **__Hey guys! Are you ready to read how did the gold diggers drama sort out? Well, dig in then :D I hope you like it. Share a review with me and tell me your opinion :)_

**21. Farewell**

I woke up next morning, with my head and left hand on Lawrence's chest and with his left arm holding me around my back. I stirred under his arm and yawned loudly after a good sleep. I had a hunch that it was raining outside, because I felt like I had had the best sleep in a long time.

A few moments after my yawn, Lawrence muttered something incoherently. Then he brushed my back and asked quietly:

"Are you awake?"

"Maybe," I answered with a sleepy voice and he chuckled.

"In case you are, good morning..." He said and ran his fingers through my hair.

"Morning..."

"What time is it?"

"I have no idea," I said and stretched out my hand to reach my cell on the nightstand. I snapped it open and answered, "Half past ten."

"We should probably get you home."

"No..." I protested and pulled myself up to get my face above his.

"Trust me, you don't want to kiss me right now," he said, knowing what I was up to. "My morning breath is terrible. Especially after feeding."

"Who are you to tell me what I want or don't want to do?" I asked and kissed him, just to prove that his breath wasn't that awful. His hand reached out and stroked my hair.

After maybe ten minutes of cuddling, we got up together and went to the bathroom. He needed to shave and I just wanted to wash my face. As I stood next to him he took his electric razor out from the cabinet and plugged it in; he asked me:

"Do you want to take a shower?"

I stretched and yawned out loud before answering, "I think I'll take it when I get home."

"Suit yourself," he said and started moving the shaver slowly all over his cheeks and chin after turning it on.

"You never cut yourself?" I asked as I pushed him gently out of my way so that I could wash my face above the sink.

"It's impossible to cut yourself with this. Besides, I heal fast."

When I wiped my face with a towel, Lawrence was done shaving and he took the aftershave from the cabinet. He dabbed some of it on his palms, and rubbed it into his shaved skin. I combed my tangled hair out as he was brushing his teeth. After that, he pulled me near to him and kissed me passionately. The kiss felt especially good, because of his frosty, minty mouth. I smiled contently and enjoyed the taste of the kiss as he took some hair wax and ruffled his hair with his fingers, then fixed it a little and asked me:

"How does it look?"

I stepped in front of him and made some rearrangements using the tips of my fingers. Of course, my curiosity was unlimited, so I asked:

"And who does your hair?"

"A vampire from Tokyo. The same that invited Jack and me there a few weeks ago."

"Tokyo? How do you get there?" I wondered.

"I fly. It takes an hour or so to get there."

"Is the hairdresser male or female?"

"Male. And gay."

I chuckled as I finished putting his hair in place.

"There. Perfect."

We left the bathroom and started preparing to get me home. I glanced through the window behind the blinds and as I assumed, it was a cloudy, rainy day, perfect for Lawrence to walk outside.

He picked out some clothes from his closet, which held a lot of clothes. When I say a lot, I mean as much as I had in my own. He pulled out a pair of black jeans, a grey shirt and a quite tight dark grey leather jacket. He brushed past me into the bathroom after winking at me and I started pulling my clothes from last night on. I wasn't in the mood for walking through half of London in my dress and high heels, but I really had no choice. Lawrence's clothes were all too huge for me so I couldn't use them.

When I was almost done zipping my dress up in the back, Lawrence emerged from the bathroom.

"Need a hand with that zipper?"

"Um-hum," I said, inhaled and felt his touch on the zipper, pulling it up.

"This is so cliché," he told me when he was done and helped me put my bolero jacket on. I stepped into my shoes and stuffed my cell into the clutch bag while Lawrence was pulling his black polished shoes on and tying them up.

Soon we walked out of the apartment carrying a big umbrella. Jack was still asleep but the remaining occupants of the building obviously weren't. Because the elevator was still out of order, we walked down the stairs. We were able to hear lots of various sounds coming from the apartments that we passed by, like sexual activity, family argues, breaking dishes, someone playing the electric guitar and using a vacuum cleaner. Colorful, isn't it?

The rain was pouring like mad so we walked through the streets really fast. Flying was out of question because, despite the rain, the streets were full of mortals who surely would notice two people flying on their own. Although Lawrence had suggested that we take a cab, we eventually took the subway after buying two tickets and stood in the far end of the wagon after pushing ourselves through the crowd.

I had to bear with a lot of staring in our direction. I knew that I was the reason; wearing an evening dress and high heels on the metro in the morning. Women had jealous glances and men drooling ones, so I just turned to Lawrence and held his hand, ignoring the crowd's eyes on me. I never liked to be a magnet for other people's attention.

We went out from the tram after dozens of stations and came near the bus station that was ten minutes from my house. We walked the remaining way and soon came to my house. The Mercedes was in the front. As we stood on the porch, I asked Lawrence:

"Would you like to come in?"

"You're not home alone. Would it be a good idea?"

I thought that through and remembered that it was a good chance to introduce Lawrence to Georg, if he was awake.

"I think that you should finally meet my stepdad."

His look was doubtful.

"Oh, come on...You handled meeting Stacie just fine," I tried to encourage him.

"She is female. And she drooled over me so it was easy," he commented.

"Please?" I pleaded, with puppy eyes and pouted lower lip. He tried to ignore my expression but he said:

"Don't look at me like that..." As he said that, I knew that I was just about to break his resistance, so I whined once more:

"Pleeeeease?"

He sighed out heavily. I knew that I had won the discussion and he accepted:

"Fine. After all, I am your boyfriend and it's customary to do things like this."

I kissed him softly and said:

"Thanks, love."

The doors were unlocked and we went in. After glancing in the living room, I wasn't pleased with the sight in there, at all. Yvetta and Aleksandra were still there, watching television and sitting on the sofa. Georg was reading the newspaper with a stern face while drinking coffee. I cleared my throat and he glanced towards me, just as the Swedish parasites did.

"Good morning. And happy Easter," I greeted, looking in Georg's direction only. I held Lawrence's hand and guided him after me towards the dining table. Yvetta's eyes almost fell out as she took Lawrence's looks in, but he simply ignored her.

"Anne. You've arrived," Georg said and stood up, curiously looking at Lawrence. "And who is this young man?"

Lawrence came in front of me, stretched out an arm to shake hands with him and answered politely:

"I'm Lawrence Hashbury, sir," Georg was pleasantly surprised with Lawrence's manners; I could tell it by the look on his face. "I'm Anne's boyfriend."

After shaking hands, Georg said with a warm grin, "Nice to meet you, Lawrence."

He looked at me and asked, maybe because Lawrence's hand was cold as usually, "It's cold outside, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes. Rain is pouring."

"Why didn't you call me to come pick you up?"

"I wanted to go for a walk with Lawrence," I explained.

"OK, lovebirds. Do you want a drink or something?" Georg said and sat back down in his chair.

"If you have some coffee, I could use a cup," Lawrence said, to my surprise.

"Sure."

"I'll pour some of it for him. Do you need a refill?" I asked Georg while going to the kitchen counter and reaching for the teapot full of coffee.

"No, I'm fine," he answered. "Sit, Lawrence."

"Thank you, sir," Lawrence said as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

As I searched for a cup in the kitchen cabinet above my head, I heard their casual conversation:

"What's your occupation, son?"

I almost dropped a cup, expecting Lawrence's answer.

"I'm a law student," he lied. "One exam away from getting my diploma."

"Very good," Georg commented as I put the cup in front of Lawrence. I stood behind him and rested my hands on his shoulders. He laid his own hands on mine before hearing another question, "What are your plans after attaining your diploma?"

"Probably opening my own office."

"Um-hum," Georg murmured as he sipped some coffee. Lawrence followed his example although I knew that he didn't like the coffee.

"What did you decide about them?" I asked Georg and gestured at the sofa.

"We're leaving together tonight," he answered and turned to the next page of his newspaper.

"And not tomorrow?"

"No. I changed my mind."

"But you won't stay with her, right?" I checked, just to be sure that he hadn't forgiven Alexandra.

"No way," Georg concluded and drank some more of his coffee. I nodded; content with his decision and then Lawrence sipped the rest of his coffee, got up and said to Georg:

"I should go now; I have an appointment."

"Go ahead," Georg said and shook hands with him again. "It was nice to meet you."

Lawrence turned to me and we walked out to the hall, holding hands. We stopped there and I told him quietly:

"Sorry for the coffee."

"It's OK. It's just that I'll feel like I'm plugged into electricity all day because of it."

I chuckled and asked:

"Coming over tonight?"

He looked upwards briefly and answered:

"I'm not sure. I think I'll do some work with Jack."

"OK. But tomorrow, you have to come!" I warned him.

"Sure thing," he told me and kissed me. "I'll go now."

"Can I call you before going to sleep?"

"Of course, honey."

"Bye," I bid him farewell.

"Bye," he said and went out, opening his umbrella as he went down the porch.

. . .

Around eight o'clock, Georg went down the stairs, carrying his suitcase. Aleksandra and Yvetta followed, dragging their own luggage.

"Time for me to go, pumpkin," Georg said. "Sorry I can't stay longer, business is calling."

"I understand," I told him and hugged him.

"I'll probably come again in the summer to spend the holidays here," he announced.

"OK," I said and glanced at the Swedish gold diggers that were leaving the house. "And please, next time, watch out for your female company. Don't choose ones like Aleksandra."

I could hear them mumbling insults in Swedish, and so could Georg so he warned them:

"Shut your mouths or you'll auto-stop back to Sweden."

They didn't say anything else and Georg answered me:

"I won't, don't worry; I've learned my lesson. If it wasn't for you, who knows when I would have found out about her intentions."

"Probably when she could do what she wanted," I concluded.

"I guess," he said and went out through the door.

"Hey, I was thinking...I still don't have a driver's license and..." I spoke as I followed him.

"So, sign up for classes. When you get it, I'll buy you your first car," he said as he unlocked the trunk.

"Oh. OK then."

He put all the suitcases into the trunk and bid farewell:

"Till next time, sweetheart."

I nodded and he drove away. There was just me once again in the house.


	22. Sanitarium

_**A/N: **__Hi people! Here comes a new chapter...And a new secondary character. Her background is the saddest character background I've ever come up with and I have no idea from where did I get the inspiration for it, but I think I did a good job and that you will like her. So, read and tell me am I right :) Thanks and stay tuned for more! :*_

**22. Sanitarium**

A month after Anne's first night at my place, it was Friday, and also my turn to find some blood for Jack and me. As we had agreed, I didn't come over to Anne's that night because she was going out with Stacie and a few more friends to have fun after an exhausting workweek. That week she had applied for driving school and was all into traffic rules, signs and first aid.

I had the whole night for myself, so I decided to find a new hospital as a source of blood, outside of London or maybe even England. So, eventually I flew to one of my favorite countries, Ireland, and came into Dublin's main hospital.

I acted as always when I was stealing blood bags; I was fast, silent and careful not to be seen by the hospital's staff. I closed the refrigerator after taking two O positives out and decided not to leave the hospital, but to have some fun.

I decided to play some hide and seek with the sleepy nurses and doctors on the night shift, who were barely awake despite the enormous amounts of coffee that they drank, according to the mugs on their tables and empty cups in the trashcans. I enjoyed doing such things; using my speed and agility to make mortals doubt if they actually saw something or was it just a product of their imagination.

After some messing with their brains, e.g. closing the doors of the rooms they were in and shutting the lights, I got bored so I left them to continue working in peace. Without special intention, I ended up on the fifth floor. The department's name was written on the wall and it said _SANITARIUM AND MENTAL ILLNESS TREATMENT_. I expected it would be loud there, that the patients would act as if they were really mentally deranged; but everything was quiet. I guessed that the sleeping pills were effective.

I lazily walked through the long hall, surprised as I saw no security cameras on the walls. The hall itself was in almost complete darkness and the only light was coming from the almost-closed doors of patients' rooms. The room at the far end was the only one that caught my attention.

I peered through the door of that room curiously. Inside, there was a black-haired girl sitting on her bed and holding a notebook in her lap while drawing something in it. Her hair was made up into a similar kind of braid as the one that my sister Rosie used to wear back in 1789.

I decided to enter her room, although I wasn't really sure what I was going to do after that. I guess that I just wanted to try to talk to the girl and see if she really was in the lunatic asylum for a good reason; because from my perspective, she didn't seem to be less normal than any other mortal. I wasn't a psychiatrist, though, but at least she was calm and didn't try to, I don't know, chew the pillows or walk on the walls.

So, I glanced down both sides of the hall to check if someone was out there and entered the room when I was sure that no one could see me. As I shut the door, the girl suddenly spoke, startling me:

"I'll go to sleep in a few minutes, Nurse Robinson."

I chuckled and answered:

"I'm not a nurse. And I really don't care about your sleeping habits."

She lifted her gaze from the notebook and glanced at me suspiciously, but obviously, she liked what she saw. I could tell it by the light blush that reddened her pale cheeks. She asked:

"Then, who are you and why are you here? Did my father send you?"

I answered while approaching her slowly:

"I don't know your father. And I don't know you, either. I thought you might want some company."

She lifted her left brow but continued drawing, without looking at me. I allowed myself to sit next to her. She moved away from me a little and I asked her:

"What are you drawing?"

She handed me the thick notebook without speaking. I looked at the drawing with admiration. It represented a shirtless male angel with huge black wings. The girl was an amateur artist.

"That's really beautiful," I told her sincerely and gave her the notebook back. She started creating some additional shades and shadows on the drawing before I asked her, "What's your name?"

"Hillary," she answered and broke the pencil's top before saying "Hillary Rowenthal."

The surname rang a bell in my head, but I couldn't remember why. I was almost sure that I had heard it before.

"So, Hillary, why are you here?" I asked her.

"I'll tell you if you promise me one thing, stranger," she tried to blackmail me.

"Vampires aren't good at keeping promises," I told her. I wasn't worried about revealing my secret to her. No one would believe her if she said that she saw a vampire in her room. They would probably pump her up with medicines and note that her mental illness was progressing.

"Vampires?" She repeated, looking at me as if I was an idiot. "Dude; if you believe that vampires exist, then you're the one who should be in here, not me."

"Really? Then, what do you think about these?" I asked her as I showed her my extended fangs. She didn't scream; she just squinted to make sure that she really saw what she saw and then told me:

"I'm not afraid of you. Even death would be better than my miserable life."

"I won't kill you," I answered her sincerely.

"OK, then do something else if you want to hear my story."

"And what would that be?" I asked her.

"Take me away from this damn hospital. Please."

Her expression was sad, lifeless. I sighed and retracted my fangs. She reminded me of my little sister, so I was already willing to help her against my will, but I said, considering that she maybe some had some mental illness that wasn't manifesting:

"We'll see about that."

"I'm not telling you the story, then," she said and crossed her arms on her chest.

"Well, boo-hoo," I said sarcastically. "If I was able to exist for two hundred and twenty one years without knowing a lunatic, then I'll be able to continue that way, don't you think?"

"I see," she said. "You probably think that I'm an habitual liar or something like that. Go ahead, read the diagnosis on the chart."

I reached for her medical chart that was attached to the bed's frame. Doctors' handwriting was always tricky to read but I managed to see Hillary's diagnosis. It said _progressing clinical depression with schizophrenia_.

I looked at Hillary skeptically, remembering the symptoms of schizophrenia.

"How can I trust the story that you're going to tell me? Here it says that you're schizophrenic. You will probably make the story up."

"Take me with you and if you eventually realize that I was lying to you, bring me back here," she suggested. Reasonable idea.

"Speak, then," I told her and put the chart back in its place.

She started speaking, constantly preventing herself from crying as she told me about the reason why she was kept in Dublin's hospital. Her reaction was too strong and I could tell that she was not faking it, so I believed her words. The story was ghastly and I couldn't believe that such a disturbed mortal like her father actually existed. He was a prestigious politician, working in the Irish government. That was why I remembered his surname.

He had a spotless political career, but nobody knew anything about his eighteen-year-old daughter Hillary, who he had physically molested until she turned fourteen and dared to confront him. Then, he put her in the hospital where I found her that Friday night, and she was incarcerated there for four years, under a fake diagnosis of clinical depression and schizophrenia. She was constantly given medicines that she didn't need, but almost always she succeeded to throw them away secretly without taking them.

Her identity was kept secret so that her father could keep his career spotless and successful. Hillary's mother passed away during childbirth and her father blamed her for her mother's death all her life, never letting her forget.

When she ended her sad story, I realized that I was clenching my fists intensely, so hard that my joints were white under my skin.

"Do they ever let you out of here?" I asked her, feeling pity for her.

"I'm only allowed to spend thirty minutes a day in the hospital's garden, under strict supervision," she answered and wiped a few tears that slid out from her eyes.

"Do you still want to get away from here?"

"More than anything, —what did you say your name was?" She asked me.

"I didn't say it. It's Lawrence."

"Please, Lawrence. Take me with you." She looked at me with the expression of a person who had nothing, whose life was ruined to its very base and who had no one. She took my right hand with her little, skinny one before saying with a raspy voice, "I'm begging you."

"OK. But if you lied to me, this is not going to end well for you. I don't like liars," I warned her and got up. "Take what you want to take before we get going."

She decided to take her notebook and pencil with the broken top only. I took my jacket off and handed it to her, knowing that it was too cold outside for her since she only wore light blue pajamas. She put my jacket on and I told her:

"Watch out for the blood bags in the pockets, OK?"

She nodded and I went to check if there was anyone in the hall. It was empty, so I gestured to Hillary to come after me.

"I'll carry you. We'll be faster that way," I told her, she nodded and I picked her up in my arms, and felt how light she was. She was also weak and pale, probably because of the traditionally bad hospital food. I was headed towards the emergency staircase, by which I was surely going to reach the hospital's roof.

As we went outside on the roof, I warned Hillary before flying off the building:

"Hold on tight. And please don't scream."

"OK," She answered curtly and gripped me around my neck while I climbed the knee high railing that surrounded the roof.

"Here we go..." I announced and a few seconds after that, I stepped into the empty air and flew off in the direction of London's industrial area.

Maybe fifteen minutes later, we were hovering in front of the open living room window of my apartment. During the flight, Hillary was as silent as I had asked her to be. She didn't scream, but she looked around in awe, enjoying the night sky from a bird's perspective.

I couldn't see Jack inside the apartment, so I called for him, "Jack! Drag your lazy ass over here, I need your help."

A few seconds after, Jack emerged on the other side of the open window and stared at me in disbelief, seemingly confused.

"Hillary," I called her name and she looked up into my eyes with visible fear, gripping tight on to me. "Don't be afraid. Jack won't hurt you. I'll hand you to him."

"Right," Jack confirmed, still trying to figure the situation out. "I won't."

"OK," Hillary said weakly and I handed her over the window's with ledge to Jack, who held her and pulled her inside, helping her to set her feet down on the living room floor. He held her around the waist for a few moments until she regained her balance.

"Take care of her, but please be careful," I instructed him. "She was in a sanitarium."

"What the fuck, Lawrence?" Jack hissed at me.

"Are you a vampire, too?" Hillary asked him.

"Yes, I am," he answered her indifferently but still glared at me intensely and said, "You are doing really stupid things these days, Lawrence. Why did you bring her over here?"

"Let her tell you why and you'll understand. I'm going to buy some food and drink for her. Coming back soon."

"Wait, I'm not a freaking nanny!" He yelled at me, leaning over the opened window but I ignored him and went towards the nearby 24/7 supermarket.


	23. Broken

_**A/N: **__Hi people...After some time I'm finally reposting a new chapter...Basically it's about Hilary, the new character from the last chapter...I hope you'll like it, however review...It would be nice to get at least one review, recently I had gotten none :/_

_P.S. If this story is maybe not your cup of tea, check out the first chapter of my new story called 'Meant For Each Other'...I really need some feedback on it. Thanks and stay tuned :)_

**23. Broken**

I had never been in a situation like that before. Not even had I stood before a mortal girl who knew exactly what I was without fearing me. Except with Anne, but she knew that Lawrence was protecting her and that she was safe, so that didn't count. Lawrence would probably rip my throat out if I even laid a hand on Anne against her will.

This girl, Hillary, didn't seem to mind standing in front of me, a vampire who could bite her at any moment. As she looked at me, kind of insecure and shy, she stuffed her hands into the pockets of Lawrence's jacket and she took out two blood bags. She handed them to me and told me:

"I think this is for you and Lawrence."

I took the bags from her lightly trembling hands and went towards the kitchen to store the blood in the fridge.

"Where did Lawrence find you?" I asked her to start a conversation.

"Dublin's city hospital."

I turned to her and took in her looks. She wore Lawrence's brown jacket and her pajamas, and she was very, very slim, as if she was starved or had refused to eat for a long time. She was as pale as any vampire, and she had terrible dark circles under her eyes. Her face had nice features, but she looked so tired that they were almost unnoticeable. I walked in front of her and tried to hold her hand in the moment I thought that she was going to collapse to the floor.

"Please sit," I urged her and tried to help her with that by guiding her to the sofa. But before I could touch her hand, she jerked it away from my reach.

"Don't be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you," I tried to make her relax.

"I'm sorry. It's just the way I act with men. I can't help myself," she said and her lips curled into a small, almost invisible smile, showing me that she believed me.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" I asked her and gestured. She nodded before taking Lawrence's jacket off and putting it over the thick notebook that she placed on the armchair.

When she sat down on the sofa, she took the thick grey quilt that was on it and wrapped it around her back, probably because of the quite low temperature in the apartment. Lawrence and I usually never turned the heat on. I sat next to Hillary and she started speaking.

. . .

As I finished telling him my story, Jack's expression became very readable, with too many emotions in it - disbelief, anger, fury, sadness, pity... Just like Lawrence's, Jack's reaction was also strong.

I had already accepted the fact that Lawrence was a vampire. Jack also. After all, I wasn't scared of them. I thought that those mythological creatures were cruel, vicious and bloodthirsty, but Jack and Lawrence were better to me than anyone had ever been before. They cared. And they understood. That was enough.

"Give me one good reason not to go after your low-life father and kill him," Jack said menacingly, looking at me with condolence. He believed my story and didn't doubt my honesty as Lawrence had. I wished that my life story wasn't true, but it was. Sad but true.

"He is not worth the guilt that you would feel afterwards," I said and sighed heavily. "He is already dead and buried in my head."

"Was it just physical violence or something else, too?" He asked me.

"Nothing except the fact that he blamed me all my life for my mother's death," I answered and once more felt the guilt, although I knew very well that I hadn't caused my mother to pass away. She wanted me to be born; I didn't choose that.

Jack shook his head, probably still unable to believe my story, and asked me:

"You know, it's weird that you didn't become a lunatic after all you've been through. I surely would have."

"I didn't because I knew that was exactly what my father wanted. But if I had taken any of the medicines that I was given in the sanitarium, I would have."

"How come you're not afraid of Lawrence and me?"

I lowered my gaze and answered him, wrapping the quilt around me tighter:

"I'll tell you the same answer that I gave to Lawrence. I'm not afraid of death. Death would mean the end of my miserable life."

"Don't speak like that," he told me. "Mortal life is too valuable to throw away. Trust me, I know."

"Not in my case. I really don't care; you can drain me if you want, just make me feel anything else but this misery. I have nothing, no one and no where to go to..."

He glided his fingers over the back of my hair tenderly and this time I did not back away from him. He told me reassuringly, looking at me with his beautiful eyes, the color of green olives:

"You're safe with us. We won't hurt you, but take care of you, Hillary."

"I have to warn you right away," I said and he expected me to continue the sentence so I did, "I'm really, really damaged. You don't want to take care of someone like me, trust me."

"Lawrence brought you here and if he thinks that you're worth caring for, I agree with him. Besides, don't consider yourself that way. You've been through a lot and you'll need some time to recover," he answered me and then someone's cell phone rang, the electric guitar melody coming from the armchair next to the sofa where we were sitting.

"Excuse me. I should probably answer that," he told me and leaned over, stretched his arm and reached the cell from the inner pocket of Lawrence's jacket. He pressed a button before bringing the cell next to his right ear and answered the call:

"Hello? Jack speaking."

There was a short pause and then he continued:

"No, Anne. He's not. He went to buy some things for our guest," he said and cast a side glance at me before continuing, "Mortal girl. Lawrence will explain it to you."

He paused while the person who called made a reply and then said, "OK, I will. Bye."

He put the cell on the coffee table in front of us and said, after noticing my curious expression:

"It was Anne. Lawrence's girlfriend."

Of course. Someone like Lawrence couldn't be single. I did my best to hide the disappointment while asking:

"Is she a vampire like you two?"

"No. She's a mortal," Jack answered. Then he noticed my notebook under Lawrence's jacket and reached out to take it. I held his left hand and told him:

"Please, don't. There are too many personal things inside."

I didn't want him to see my depressing poetry and delusional drawings, made in the worst periods of my life. He just nodded and sat back.

"Sorry," he apologized although he didn't have to. "Would you like to...I don't know, take a shower to relax before going to sleep?"

"I would, it would be nice," I accepted. He got up and led me to one of the two doors in the room. He opened it and let me come in. It was his room, I guessed. We passed through it and came into the bathroom.

"When you finish, you can wear this, it's mine," he told me and pointed to the bathrobe on a hanger before showing me the shelf containing dozen of towels and saying, "And you can take a towel from there if you'll need it."

I smiled and answered:

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Take your time," he said and went out of the bathroom, closing the door. I locked it and got into the shower.

. . .

While Hillary was in the shower, Lawrence came back carrying two plastic bags full of stuff from the nearby supermarket.

"Where is Hillary?" He asked me.

"In the shower."

"Do me a favor," he told me when he put the bags on the kitchen counter. "Go and check if she is OK or checking how sharp is your razor."

"What, should I peer through the keyhole, you pervert?" I asked him, confused.

"No, _blondie_...Just ask her how she is doing. She was in a sanitarium; remember? Maybe she is suicidal."

I nodded and vanished from the kitchen, flew through the rooms and landed before the door of my bathroom. I knocked a few times and asked:

"Hillary? Is everything OK in there?"

"Yes, I'm almost done," I heard her loud answer, mixed with the sound of running water from the shower.

"OK. Don't hurry," I said, sighed and went back to the kitchen where Lawrence was taking out a few boxes of cereal from the bag and putting them in a kitchen cabinet.

"She's fine," I said and helped him unpack, taking a carton of milk and storing it in the fridge. I wondered, "Do we even have things like spoons, forks, plates?"

"A few, yes. You remember - we bought some dishes when me moved in here to make the cleaners and painters think that we were ordinary mortals."

"Oh. Right," I said as I recalled.

"Did you talk to her?" He asked me.

"Yes. She told me everything."

"Do you believe her story?"

"When she talked about it, she was convincing; so yes, I do. You don't?" I asked him and unloaded some more food from the bag.

"I share your opinion but I'm not completely sure. We'll see. And how are you two getting along?"

"Fine, I think. Although she is really shy and antisocial."

"You have to understand her. She's had a hard time, if her story is true."

"I know," I answered as he threw the empty plastic bag into the trash bin. "Anne called you."

"I'll call her back," he answered just as Hillary walked by us, dressed in my checkered bathrobe that was ridiculously huge on her and with her wet hair rolled up in a towel. She smelled like my shower gel and shampoo.

"That was one fast shower," I noticed and smiled at her. She returned me the smile and looked away from me, her shyness manifesting again.

"Are you hungry?" Lawrence asked her.

"Maybe. What do you have?" She answered and moved a few magnets on the fridge to entertain herself.

"Lots of things," Lawrence answered.

"I would kill for some chocolate right now," she stated and Lawrence reached up into the kitchen cabinet, pulled out a chocolate bar in purple wrapping and gave it to her, commenting:

"No need for killing, you slayer," then he smiled at her and commented, "Is there any female mortal that's not a chocolate junkie?"

"Guess not," Hillary said before putting a little piece of chocolate in her mouth.

"Speaking of, I better go and call my personal chocolate junkie," Lawrence mused with a wide grin as he went to take his cell from the coffee table. A few months ago, nothing was able to make him smile that way, not even the best comedy movie. Now he was smiling about hundred times a day, all because of Anne.

He threw his jacket over his shoulder as he searched for Anne's number and dialed it. Before opening the door of his room, Hillary and I heard him speaking to Anne:

"You called me, foxy?"

Hillary chuckled at Anne's new nickname and I did too.

Later, after she went to sleep in my bed, I stayed alone in the living room, killing time with Playstation and the icy blood in my glass. Lawrence came out from his room only to heat up his blood and then went back, probably to do nothing or to text Anne.

I was playing my favorite game, but my thoughts were preoccupied with something else so I soon put the gamepad on the table in front of me, uninterested in further playing. When I told Hillary that mortal life was too valuable to throw away no matter what, I really meant it. Since I became a vampire, I regretted this and missed my mortal life, even more so because I hadn't been given a choice in whether I was going to get turned or not.

I recalled my human life with some strange feeling that wasn't sadness but the wish to know what my life would have turned out to be if I had continued living it. I wondered what would have happened if I had remained Jack Ferrell; whose parents were rich, whose future was bright as it could be and who always had plenty of girls waiting in a row to be with him.

I snapped back to the present as I heard a strong scream emerging from my room, where Hillary was sleeping. I stood up and as I came to my door, Lawrence came out from his room and asked:

"What's happening? Why is she screaming?"

"I don't know but I'll check. You return to what you've been doing, I can handle this," I said before turning the doorknob. Lawrence nodded and turned around to go back to his room. Another scream echoed through the whole apartment and I heard that someone was banging on the ceiling of the apartment below with a stick. Nervous and hypocritical mortal neighbors. It was perfectly normal when they screwed the hell out of each other at noon so that you probably could hear their moans outside the building, but when a girl in our apartment screamed while having a nightmare, that was unacceptable. I stomped my foot a few times, even louder than the neighbors did with the stick.

I sighed before entering the room, coming towards the bed and turning the light on the nightstand on. As I did that, Hillary screamed once more. Obviously, she was having a nightmare because she was rolling all over the bed, mumbling and crying in her sleep.

I sat next to her, gripped her shoulders and shook her, trying to wake her up:

"Hillary! Wake up; it's just a bad dream!"

"NO!" She screamed out loud once more.

"Come on, wake up!" I told her and shook her a little more. She screamed once more before suddenly sitting up in the bed and opening her eyes.

"Hey," I told her quietly and took her face gently in my hands, feeling the cold sweat on her forehead and hot tears streaming down her cheeks. "Are you OK?"

She looked at me, confused and disoriented and then eyed the room that we were in, to make sure that she was really awake, I guess. Without much hesitation, she kneeled on the bed and pushed herself against me, squeezed her arms around my neck tightly and rested her face next to mine. Her chin sat on my shoulder and she continued crying. I knew that she needed some comfort, so I held her around her back with my left hand and stroked her hair with my right, saying:

"Don't cry. It's all over now."

She sobbed and said, close to my ear:

"Usually, I would get a tranquilizer injection now and not a hug."

"I'll be here for you from now on," I said and immediately mentally slapped myself. Why the hell was I promising something like that to her?

"Thanks, Jack," she said quietly and kissed my cheek. It startled me and I let her go, intending to get up and said:

"Go back to sleep."

"Can't you stay here?" She asked me and wiped her face with her sleeve.

"No, I'll sleep on the sofa," I told her and pulled the quilt that was jumbled beyond her legs before covering her with it. "Good night."

"Night," she said before I walked out of the room.


	24. Fresh Start

_**A/N:**__ Hi everyone... Just a short a/n this time 'cause I'm seriously exhausted after work and cleaning up... Thanks for the reviews and enjoy the chapter. Bye now :)_

**24. Fresh Start**

I was awoken by a sound similar to the opening and closing of a drawer but I didn't open my eyes right away. I was afraid that I would wake up in my hospital room and that everything I remembered, Lawrence bringing me to London and meeting Jack, would prove to be a dream. However, I heard another drawer sound, which reassured me that I was in Jack's room since I had no furniture with drawers back in Dublin. I let out a small, content yawn after recalling that and opened my eyes, feeling so fresh because of a good sleep. Jack turned around in the half dark and asked me quietly:

"Did I wake you up?"

"Kind of," I admitted.

"Well then, sorry. Kind of," he said with a chuckle as he walked to the bed and sat next to me, holding some clothes in his hands. "How did you sleep after the nightmare?"

"Best sleep I've had in the last few months," I said, sat up in bed and added, "Thanks for waking me up while I was screaming."

"It's nothing."

"What time is it?" I asked, feeling completely disoriented.

"It's almost noon. Your doctors and nurses in Dublin are surely flipping out now," he said and laughed silently with me.

"And why are you awake? Aren't vampires supposed to sleep during the day?" I asked curiously.

"I've lost my coffin," he told me, smiled and continued, "Just kidding, I never had one of those. Actually, we can do whatever we want during the day."

"Hey," I said as I remembered that I had no clothes to change into, "do you maybe have some spare clothes for me? I can't walk around in my PJ's all day."

"Here, I already thought of that," he told me and gave me the clothes from his hands. "Tracksuit pants and the smallest shirt from my closet. You might have to roll up the sleeves, though."

"Thanks," I answered and smoothed the clothes in my lap with my hand. He stood up and called back to me while turning the doorknob:

"Lawrence's girl is gonna get you some clothes and stuff tonight and a hairdresser is coming to trim Lawrence's hair so if you decide for a cut, just say."

"Oh. Great, my hair is terrible," I said cheerfully and when he left, I pulled the new clothes up before going to the bathroom to check how I looked.

My reflection showed me that my dark circles were smaller and I was also less pale. Probably the result of good sleep, food that I liked and also pleasant company. As I walked to the living room, I almost tripped over the too huge pair of pants Jack had given me to wear. He chuckled and commented:

"Charlie Chaplin wannabe?"

"Don't chuckle at me," I mused as I sat next to him to roll up the leggings a bit.

"Or what?" He teased.

"Or I'll...I'll..." I started but didn't know how to finish the sentence and he chuckled contently before returning attention to his game. I sighed and saw that my notebook was still in the place where I had left it last night. I took it and asked Jack:

"Did you snoop?"

"No, missy. I know the meaning of the word personal," he told me seriously while punching the buttons on the gamepad vigorously. "But I did sharpen that pencil for you."

"Thanks," I said, pulling my legs up on the sofa and my knees to my chest before resting the notebook on them. I opened the last used page and continued bringing the dark angel to perfection. Jack wasn't nosy; he just played his video games.

Our whole afternoon passed by like that, except for the frequent meals that Jack insisted I eat. It was kind of annoying, but I didn't complain. During the previous months, I had eaten very little amounts of food with a strong intention to starve myself to death. Each time I was just a step from sure death, something happened: either the nurses pumped me up with infusion or I just gave up, deciding that I wanted to see what life would bring me.

Staying alive paid back, I think. Lawrence got me out of the hospital and Jack was there, too, so nice to me and so handsome. I believed in love at first sight, in the knight on the white horse stuff, but I wasn't sure if Jack was a vampire who was keen on the idea of having a relationship with a mortal girl. Lawrence, on the other hand, was; but he was already taken.

. . .

Somewhere around fifteen minutes to eight, Lawrence strolled out from his room and went to pick Anne up after work. It wasn't a strange thing for him to spend the whole day in his room. Once I asked him how he spent his time during daylight; he answered, "Sleeping, reading, listening to music and sleeping again." I was sure that the new part of the routine was daydreaming about Anne or just texting her.

Hillary was still sitting next to me and drawing something devotedly, shooting glances at me every now and then. I used the opportunity when she went to the toilet to glance at what she was doing so enthusiastically. I didn't actually snoop, since she left the notebook open. On the left page there was a finished, I don't know, dark angel I guess. On the right one, there was something that looked pretty much like my profile. A good rendering. I pretended I hadn't seen anything when Hillary came back.

At about nine o'clock, the door unlocked and Anne came inside before Lawrence, carrying a few paper bags from clothing stores. As she saw Hillary and me, she smiled warmly and greeted us:

"Hey Jack, hey Hillary."

"Hey!" Hillary and I greeted back in unison and chuckled. All afternoon I constantly made her laugh, which was easy since my range of jokes was really wide and she hadn't heard most of them before.

Maybe five minutes after Lawrence and Anne's arrival, all of a sudden one of my Asian acquaintances flew in through the window and stood next to it, holding a black briefcase. It was Yuri, my vampire friend, a gay hairdresser from Tokyo. Anne and Hillary were scared, I could tell that. Anne held on to Lawrence instinctively and Hillary stiffened next to me. I held her hand to make her relax and then spoke to Yuri:

"Yuri...Still haven't learned how to use the door, have you?"

He smiled widely, shook his irritatingly long black bangs out of his sight and answered:

"Why bother? This is faster," he glanced around and recognized that there were two mortals in the room. How? Well, basically, mortals are less pale than vampires. Besides, the girls looked quite afraid and a vampire usually has no reason to fear another vampire.

Yuri licked his lips casually and asked me, "What are we having, a biting party?"

"You know what you can bite..." Lawrence provoked Yuri.

I burst out in laughter. Lawrence didn't actually get along well with Yuri, probably because he was a vampire and also gay, but he did his best to stand him because Yuri did his hair so well. When I stopped laughing, Lawrence ended his sentence, "Actually, what you can't bite. I'm still in the closet. And stop terrifying the girls."

"OK... And if you ever decide to come out from it, I'll help you with joy," Yuri said as he put his briefcase full of hairdresser's tools on the kitchen table and started preparing his combs, scissors, razors and other implements. "Now, who needs my services?"

"I do," Lawrence answered and sat on the chair that Yuri pulled out for him.

"Anyone else?" Yuri asked as he started combing Lawrence's hair out. Usually, that would've been mission impossible with all the hair wax that he uses but tonight his hair was clean and clear.

"Well, Hillary here wants a haircut," I said and motioned to Hillary.

"OK, Hillary, then go and wash your hair; make my work easier," he answered and did the first trim with a razor on Lawrence's hair. Hillary went to my bathroom and Anne sat next to me to get a better view of what Yuri was doing. He noticed her and complimented, "I like your layers."

"Thanks," Anne answered before asking, "So, whose idea was Lawrence's hairstyle?"

"Why, don't tell me you don't like it," Lawrence commented and winked at her.

"No, just the opposite," Anne explained with a smile.

"It was mine," Yuri replied. "The inspiration were Jacoby Shaddix and Zacky Vengeance, if you know who they are. Google if you don't. And before this one he had a Bieber hairstyle."

Anne laughed silently and Lawrence rolled his eyes thoroughly before adding:

"Yeah, before that talentless little brat became popular."

"And personally, it fit you better than this," Yuri commented and moved away from Lawrence a bit to see how he looked. He came back close and asked me as he continued working fast, "No cutting for you this time, Jack?"

"Nah," I said, "It's still not too hard to handle. Maybe next time."

"As you wish," he nodded and used a big brush to dust off the little shorn hairs from Lawrence's neck. Just then, Hillary returned with her hair rolled up in a towel. She stood by me and looked at Yuri, who was finishing L's hairstyle with some hair wax.

"There, all done," he said and Lawrence stood up, taking a hand mirror to check his hair and letting Hillary take his place.

"Now, you pretty black-haired girl, what do you want me to do with your hair? Yuri asked as he took the towel off her head and grabbed a comb.

"Just make it look decent. Now it's dull, dead," Hillary mused and sat up straight.

"Sure it is," Yuri noticed when he started combing. "How much do we cut?"

"About ten centimeters, okay?"

"No problem."

After twenty minutes, her new haircut was done. Until then, her sleek black hair had been quite long, but Yuri trimmed it so that it reached down just to her collarbone. It suited her and she looked nice. After she stood up, Anne walked with her to my room, saying:

"Let me show you what I got for you..."

. . .

I walked along with Hillary to Jack's room, carrying the bags with the things that I bought for her, as Lawrence asked me to. I bought everything before going to work that day, using the pause that I had after the classes.

If it was somebody else, I wouldn't do something like that, but Hillary's story was really sad and I knew that she wasn't familiar with the London streets and locations. As I emptied all the bags on the top of Jack's bed, I started talking casually:

"So..." I said as I picked out three T-shirts with long sleeves that I had bought for her, a blue, purple and black one. "I hope the clothes will fit. Lawrence told me that you are really thin, so I bought everything in size S."

She took one shirt, checked the size by putting it over the men's shirt that she wore and said:

"I think it will be fine."

"I also got you these black slacks and denim jeans, two bras, a dozen panties, a dozen socks and a new pajama set. It's all refundable so try it and tell me is anything in the wrong size. And if you need anything else, just tell me."

"I will," she said and then, I pointed at the contents of the bag from a perfumery before saying, "In that bag, you have a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, shower gel, some pads and tampons. Again, if you don't like something just throw it away, OK?"

"OK. And thanks, once again."

"You're welcome," I told her and smiled warmly while she folded the clothes. Then, before I walked out of the room, she asked me:

"Anne?"

"Yes?" I asked and turned around.

"Can I trust them?"

"Who do you mean, Lawrence and Jack?" I checked.

"Yes."

"Definitely. I guess that you've hung around Jack a while, so you know how friendly he is and Lawrence..." I started and tried to arrange my words properly. "He might seem tough but when you get to know him, and if you're as good with him as you expect him to be with you, you'll see his right face."

"Oh. Thanks," she said and nodded. I nodded back and went to the living room. Yuri was gone, Lawrence was just closing the living room window and Jack was, as usual, playing on his Playstation.

"Jack, son...You'll damage your eyes," I told him goofily, knowing that he liked jokes.

"Don't worry, mom; these are non-damageable," he answered me as he pointed at his eyes. I chuckled and gestured to Lawrence to come over to me, as I headed towards his room, grinning devilishly. He smiled and went towards me as I opened the door. Jack called to us:

"Be safe, kids."

Lawrence picked up a little pillow and hit Jack's head with it before coming over to me at his usual inhuman speed. He picked me up in his arms before closing the door of his room and sat down on his bed, holding me in his lap. I put my hand on his neck, stroked him lightly and felt his hand around my back.

"I missed you," I told him and brushed the tip of his nose with my own.

"I missed you, too. You should really move in here..." He said as his lips wandered below my ear.

"Yeah, so this apartment would turn out into a real vampire/mortal love nest..."

"I don't know about that. Hillary and Jack aren't..."

"Oh, but they will be," I told him and curved out my neck to get some deeper kisses. "I saw the way they look at each other when they think that the other one is not looking."

"I haven't noticed anything. I was too busy looking at you."

"Why are you still talking? Kiss me already..." I said and we joined our lips. Oh, how good it was. Every time better than the last time. When we parted our lips again, I paid some attention to his neck as he asked me:

"And how was your day? Mmm..." he moaned as I nuzzled on his neck and added, "What about driving school?"

"Passed the traffic rules and first aid exam. Traffic signs exam is next week and driving lessons start the week after."

"Do you need some tutoring?"

I chuckled and asked:

"You know how to drive?"

"Um-hum."

"But you don't have a car, right?" I asked.

"No. That might be a problem, unless Jack and I go and pick out something."

"Don't bother, Stacie already offered to show me the basics."

We didn't talk for some time; we just cuddled in silence. Then, he suggested:

"Let's go out on a date tomorrow night..."

"Let's...Movies again?" I accepted.

"If you don't have a better idea," he mused.

"Movies are fine," I agreed and we made out a little more before he brought me back to my house.


	25. When The Heart Guides The Hand

_**A/N:**__ Hello, hello!_

_First I need to say big thanks to my new readers/reviewers, thanks for taking the time to type those few words of support and sharing your opinion with me! Keep reviewing and making me happy; when I'm happy the chapters of my stories are usually pretty awesome :D_

_Speaking of awesome, I think this chapter will knock you off your feet :) Read it and tell me if I'm right!_

_Bye now!_

_P.S. Yep, the soundtrack for this chapter is Marilyn Manson's song with the same title ('Heart Shaped Glasses')_

**25. When The Heart Guides The Hand**

As I left my room the next day, before going to pick Anne up and take her out on a date, I saw that Jack and Hillary were also up to something. They were both dressed up and obviously intending to go somewhere. Hillary wore some of the clothes that Anne brought her the day before with Jack's high Converse sneakers, too big for her of course. I asked them curiously, while checking if I had everything that I needed with me:

"And where are you two going?"

"Well..." Jack started, "Hillary has never experienced night life so I'm taking her to the right place."

"New York?" I asked.

"No, not this time. We're going to Yuri's in Tokyo to have some fun. We'll spend the next day there and come back after twilight."

"And you?" I asked and looked at Hillary, remembering her fear from last night, when Yuri arrived at our place. "You're OK with that, you don't fear Yuri?"

"Jack will look after me," she said and smiled.

"You bet I will," he said and I answered:

"OK then, have fun. And watch out for the time zone difference. I don't want you to get burned, roommate."

"OK, L," Jack answered and took Hillary by her hand, guiding her outside as he said to me, "See you tomorrow."

"Right," I said when they went out and closed the door. After a few moments, I walked out too.

So, the whole apartment was empty just for me and... _"Don't push it, Lawrence,"_ I warned myself as I thought about Anne, walking along the street and feeling how warm the night was.

I went to Anne's house and she stepped out in front of me after I rang the bell. She stunned me with the way she looked. She wore a tight, long sleeved black shirt that revealed the top of her cleavage, then skinny light grey jeans with a few shreds and the same black high heels that she had worn on her first night at my place. The same pair that I would allow her to walk all over me with and actually enjoy it. She wore no intense make up, nothing but some mascara that made her lashes more tremendous than they usually were.

She got me excited. Very, very excited. Things between us were becoming more intense each day, or night actually, and they were about to explode, I could tell The night before, we were hardly able to stop making out in my room.

I sighed and moved closer to her before pulling her against me and kissing her passionately.

"Mmm..." she murmured as I let her go. "Good evening to you too..."

"Evening, foxy..." I said and allowed my hands to rest on top of her bottom. She didn't move them away, but commented:

"You know, that's the best nickname I ever got. Why do you call me foxy?"

"Because you are so tricky and you look so good that I should capture you in my room and never let you out..."

"Kinky...But let's go to the movies first..." she said seductively.

"As you wish," I told her and we went to the same cinema where we had our first date. Once when we arrived there we decided to watch some cheesy, romantic movie.

During the projection, we didn't actually pay much attention to the movie. The first half we did, but then we decided that making out was more interesting than the cliché, predictable movie. We were sitting in the last row of the auditorium so no one gave us nervous coughs or rolled eyes. When the movie ended, we walked out before everyone else, outside the cinema with our hands joined.

We stood beyond a street lamp across the street and did nothing but look at each other and intertwine our fingers. Anne's eyes seemed moister than usual to me, and I could see compassion in her eyes. I was sure that my expression was reflected in hers and I asked:

"What are you thinking about?"

"It's just...It's so beautiful...To be here with you."

I smiled admiringly, took her face in my hands and told her before kissing her:

"I know exactly how you feel."

When my lips parted from hers afterwards, nature suddenly surprised both of us. As we felt huge water drops falling on our faces, we glanced upwards to the sky. A massive rain was pouring down, soaking us wet.

"I guess our date is over..." I said and kissed her, knowing that kissing in the rain is one of the best things that you can experience.

"No," she refused and said, "It's just been relocated. You're home alone, aren't you?"

"Indeed," I answered.

"So, what are you waiting for? My pneumonia?" she asked me and chuckled. I chuckled back before saying:

"Let's go, then."

We ran to find a suitable place for me to fly upwards without being seen and when we got to one dead end alley, similar to the one where we met the first time, I picked Anne up in my arms and said:

"Hold on tight..."

"Don't I always?" she asked me, kissing my cheek. I flew to my place with her in my arms.

After we practically ran up the stairs leading up through the whole building, anxious to reach my apartment, I stopped in front of the door and searched for the key in my pocket. Anne interrupted me as she turned me around to face her and pushed me towards the door so that my back was against it. While shoving her hands beneath my soaking wet shirt, she began kissing and slightly biting my neck. I moaned and asked her:

"What are you up to, naughty girl?"

As I waited for her response, I noticed that someone was standing on the other side of the door of the apartment across from us. A blue eye looked at me through the spy hole and vanished as I noticed it. I ignored the nosy mortal and heard Anne say:

"The problem is that I want you..."

As she said that, my blood rushed through my veins at an insane speed and my chest started pacing as if I was running a marathon, indicating the growing desire in me. I unlocked the door, pulled Anne inside after me while shutting the door with my feet and then told her as I pinned her to the wall in the dark hall:

"That's not a problem at all..."

We kissed passionately and the situation reminded me of our first encounter, when I had kissed her against her will. I asked playfully:

"Does this ring any bells for you?"

"Mmm-hmm..." she purred as I explored her neck with my lips, knowing how well I could excite her by doing that. Her fragrance was again there, sweet and flowery. I asked her, repeating my words from the distant Monday night when we first met:

"Do you even know what I am?"

"A big..." she started and breathed out heavily as I continued kissing her below the ear before she continued "...scary, sexy vampire." Sexy, huh? Promising...

"Are you afraid?" I asked her with my lips just an inch away from hers.

"Yes, very." As she answered that, I took her lower lip between my lips for a moment, softly sucking it before I murmured:

"Well, if you want to come home alive tonight..."

"I'm not going home tonight, love," she said and started unbuttoning my shirt while suggesting, "Let's take a shower, I'm cold."

"Oh...I'll make you burn..." I told her as I lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around me before I finished my line, "...with desire."

I carried her to my room, holding her beneath her bottom while she kissed me restlessly. Once we had come to my room, I turned the light on the nightstand on and set Anne down on her feet. As I did so, she started unbuttoning her shirt, driving me crazier with each unloosened button and seductive glance at me.

I started undressing too, and soon we stood in front of each other, wearing only our underwear. We matched, since her bra and panties were black, like my boxers. She moved backwards to lie down on her back and pushed herself towards the headboard, gesturing to me with her index finger to join her. She didn't have to ask me twice.

I came above her and reached behind her back to undo her bra with my left hand while stroking the naked skin over her ribs with the right one. She threw the lacy bra to the floor and breathed heavily out of excitement as I caught the top of her tiny panties with my extended fangs and pulled them down to her ankles. When she was completely naked below me, she rolled us over and slowly stripped my boxers off. We started kissing and let our hearts and hormones guide our hands. I only hoped that I had had an unused condom in the nightstand.

. . .

Maybe half an hour later, we lay together below the wrinkled sheets, still breathless and wordless, gathering our impressions after making love for the first time. My head was resting on his chest and I placed a few little kisses on it before saying:

"That was... Amazing."

"To me too," he said and kissed the top of my hair as he continued to tickle me lightly by drawing some undefined patterns on my naked shoulders with his fingers. Then he chuckled before asking me, "You really had to make me bite you, didn't you?"

"It excited me," I admitted sheepishly as I observed my left thumb, which had Lawrence's small bite mark, covered with coagulated blood. "Was it so gross to you?"

"Not at all. But let's not make that a habit. I don't need to feed on you, sugar," he said before taking my bitten thumb and brushing it lightly with his fingers.

"OK, honey," I said and then noticed the empty condom wrapper on the nightstand. "Hey, what was the condom for?"

"Just to be sure," he answered.

"Sure of what?" I wondered, ignoring the things from _Breaking Dawn_.

"Well, I'm not sure if we, male vampires, are sterile or not. Females are, though."

"Oh. I get it," I answered and nodded, playing with his right nipple.

"Are you still cold?" he asked and reached beyond the sheet to stroke my bare back, going up and down my spine with his fingers.

"Nu-uh," I said lazily. "I burned under your hands."

"Told you," he said contently and sighed so deeply that his chest rose up and then went back down.

"Yeah...I think I'm gonna crash now," I said and fell asleep instantly.

. . .

When I woke up, I realized that the bed was empty and that the room was bright because the dark blinds were off the window, letting the daylight come inside. It was a cloudy day again, the sky was covered with thick grey clouds and the rain was slipping out from them. As I looked around, I saw the clothes that Lawrence and I wore last night were still on the floor and then noticed the note written on a folded paper that was on the nightstand. It said:

_Went to get you something for breakfast. I'll be back soon. - Lawrence_

I didn't need any food at that moment but wanted to be in his arms again. I smiled contently after remembering how amazing last night was, then got up and put Lawrence's black bathrobe on before collecting our wet clothes from the floor and putting them into the dryer in the bathroom. I walked out of the room lazily and went to find something refreshing to drink.

As I sipped a few gulps of cold orange juice that was probably bought for Hillary just like the rest of the food and drink in the fridge, the doorbell rang. I wondered if I should open the door or not. Lawrence had his key so he didn't have to ring the bell, but maybe Jack and Hillary came back and couldn't find their key.

So, I walked to the door and opened it after another ring, still sleepy and with slow reflexes so I forgot to peer through the spy hole. Major mistake. As I saw the stranger that stood before me on the doorstep, I didn't manage to do anything, not even to let out a scream before he pinned a syringe filled with some transparent fluid straight into my neck. I lost consciousness immediately and hit the floor.


	26. Taken Away

_**A/N: **__Here comes a new chapter after that mean cliffhanger! Enjoy and tell me what you think in the reviews! :)_

**26. Taken Away**

I left the nearby bakery carrying a bag with two chocolate filled croissants for Anne, after waiting for them to be baked for maybe fifteen minutes. Usually, I don't go out to buy something at daytime, mostly because of the sun. Today was rainy, though, so it was safe and I wanted to make Anne's morning as good as it could be - to get her some breakfast, coffee and maybe a replay of last night, if she wanted it.

I could still feel tingles as I thought about what we did last night. It was better than I thought it would be. It wasn't just sex. It wasn't the same dull, animalistic thing that I had done a few times with female vampires just to fulfill the need, with no passion, no emotions and most importantly - no love brought into it.

When I walked to our building's parking lot, I noticed that the expensive and new black Mercedes with French registration plates that had been parked there for the past few weeks was gone. It was a nice car and I had actually tried to talk Jack into stealing it, but we still had enough money earned from selling a BMW X6 the previous year, so he wasn't in the mood.

The elevator was finally working, but I didn't use it. Apartment owners in the building usually hired a housekeeper two times a year, so I knew that the elevator was probably already full of dirt and other crap. As I walked up to the highest story, I saw that the door of my apartment was open. "Maybe Anne opened it," I thought optimistically but knew in advance that something was wrong.

"Anne, love!" I called to her as I entered the apartment. "Are you here?"

I got no response but I called once again, going towards my room and bathroom:

"Anne? Where are you?" After that, I saw that our wet clothes were gathered from the floor in my room. I walked to the bathroom and checked the dryer. There were just my dry clothes there and not one single garment that belonged to Anne. I took my cell phone and dialed her number. It rang but nobody answered. I gave up on calling her and held my head in my hands nervously.

I paced to the living room and noticed something that I hadn't noticed when I came from outside. There was a note on the fridge below a magnet, written on the background of my note for Anne that I had left on the nightstand. I read the letters in an unfamiliar handwriting and froze in place.

IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR ANNE ALIVE EVER AGAIN, WAIT FOR ME TO CALL YOU AND OBEY MY FURTHER ORDERS. OTHERWISE, I'LL KILL HER INSTEAD OF YOU.

I called Anne once again, hoping that she'd pick up and say that the kidnap note was just a prank, then walk inside the apartment from somewhere and laugh because I had actually believed her.

. . .

Suddenly, something rang next to my ear, almost deafening with the guitar riff in my ringtone. No, it wasn't something. It was my cell phone. But where the hell was I? It was complete dark all around me and the space that I was in was moving backwards. My arms and legs were immobilized. I lifted my head to see the caller ID. It was Lawrence. I somehow managed to press the answer key with the tip of my nose and heard Lawrence's question:

"Anne, where are you?"

"I don't know," I said. Actually, what I said sounded like I was mumbling into a pillow. Why was that so? I moved my jaw a little and felt that my mouth was covered with something that felt like duct tape.

"Anne, honey? Can you hear me?"

I mumbled something inarticulately and he said again, with audible panic in his voice:

"Anne! Anne!"

I started crying, wanting so hard to answer him, to tell him how I didn't know where I was and how scared I was. He heard my weeps and asked:

"Why are you crying, baby? What have they done to you?"

Before I gave him another unintelligible answer, the line broke. The display indicated that I had no service. Awesome.

There was no point in trying to see anything in the complete dark that I was in, so I closed my eyes, intending to gather some energy which I could use to try fighting off the person who had taken me away from Lawrence. Suddenly I heard a conversation somewhere behind me:

"Hello? Boss, I have the girl."

There was a short pause, until the person who spoke the last sentence continued:

"Yes. I'm taking her to my place and I'll wait for your further orders." After a short pause, he ended the talk, "I'll call if there are any complications."

When there was almost complete silence again, I understood everything. I had been kidnapped. My kidnapper was foreign, judging by his accent and the fact that his speech had a very pronounced "r" letter and awkward emphasizing, different to one typical for British English. Probably, I was also being driven somewhere, according to the movement that I could feel. And also, I was closed in a car's trunk.

. . .

After the line broke, I tried to call Anne again, but the call could not be established. I knew that something was wrong.

It's a rare thing to see a vampire panicking, but at that moment I was flipping out, terrified for Anne's safety as much as I could be. Just to hear her desperate attempts to answer my questions and her crying was enough to trouble me unbearably. Even more so because I knew that she was kidnapped because of me. If I had never left the apartment, if I had stayed in bed with her in my arms, none of this would have happened.

I didn't have the slightest idea on who was the bastard that took Anne away from me in order to get me, but I guessed it was just some vampire that had some unsettled business with me. However, I knew that particular kidnapper was going to have a really tough time with me once I found him.

I dialed Yuri's number in order to contact Jack, who was supposed to be spending the day with Hillary at Yuri's and who left his cell in his room.

"Konichiwa..." Yuri greeted with audible sleepiness in his voice. It was around 6 AM in Tokyo.

"Yuri! It's Lawrence. Is Jack around?" I asked, alarmingly.

"Yes, he sleeps."

"Pass him the cell right now. It's urgent," I said.

"OK," he said, without his typical, unnecessary chatting. "Jack! Lawrence is calling. He says it's urgent!"

"It better be," Jack mumbled as he took Yuri's cell in his hand. "L? What's going on?"

"Shit is going on, Jack. Anne's been kidnapped," I answered.

"Anne's been..." he started repeating what I said before he realized what he had just heard, "What? When?"

"When I went out this morning and left her alone sleeping in my bed," I answered.

"Got any idea who did it?" He wondered.

"No. But I'll need your help. Get back here as soon as the sun sets."

"I will and don't you worry. We'll tear the asshole who did that apart," Jack said.

"See you," I said curtly.

"OK," he said and we ended the call. Now, I just had to wait for the first call from Anne's kidnapper to hear his conditions.

. . .

After I don't know how much time, the lid of the car trunk finally opened and a stranger appeared above me. My eyes squinted for some time until they adjusted themselves to the light and saw my kidnapper. He was tall, muscular and tanned, wearing a striped white button up shirt with its sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hair was hazelnut, reaching the line of his jaw and his eyes were light blue.

I looked around me and saw that I was still in Lawrence's bathrobe and that my dried up clothes were beneath me. My cell was next to the stilettos, in the front right corner of the car trunk. My ankles and wrists were also bound with duct tape, like my mouth.

The stranger reached out to pull me from the trunk but as he touched my leg with his hand, I started wiggling and moving restlessly, trying to free my hands and legs. The kidnapper's expression told me that he had no patience for my escape attempt, so he just said:

"Stop doing that or I'll sedate you again."

I looked at him furiously and mumbled, trying to articulate, "Let me go, asshole!"

He just shook his head and pulled me out of the trunk, before throwing me over his shoulder as if I was light as a feather, so that my head was facing his back. I banged into his back with my forehead, trying to hurt him; but the motherfucker just chuckled and said:

"That will do harm to you, only. Your head will ache."

He collected the things from the trunk, slammed it shut and then started walking towards the modern house across the private, empty parking lot where his expensive black Mercedes with French registration plates was parked. I heard a beep when he locked the car with the remote.

I wiggled constantly on his shoulder, trying to make him drop me on the ground. But until he let me down on the white sofa in the huge living room in his house, he didn't lose control over me, not even for a moment.

Then, he walked out from the room we were in, leaving me completely alone. I continued trying to liberate my limbs and to run away, but without any effect. After a few moments, my kidnapper came back, carrying a crystal bottle half full of some liquor and a glass with some ice in it.

He poured some of the liquor into the glass, rolled the glass in his hand and then drank all that was in it in one long content sip before setting the bottle down on the coffee table. After that, he turned to me and mused:

"I wonder why someone like you hangs around vampires. And fucks them."

I shot the deadliest glance that I could pull off at him and mumbled something, trying to swear at him really nastily.

"What?" He asked me, obviously amused with my efforts to say something coherent. "You want me to take that tape off your mouth?"

I nodded, still burning holes of hate in his face. He came closer and removed the duct tape covering my mouth in one brisk move that, of course, ached like hell.

"You idiot!" I shouted as my mouth burned in pain. "That hurts!"

"Oops. Sorry," he said sarcastically and sat on the sofa across from the one that I was sitting on. It's a funny thing how sarcasm is annoying when someone uses it to talk to you, but on the other hand, so amusing to use when you speak to someone.

"LET ME GO!" I yelled out of the top of my lungs. "When my boyfriend finds us here, he'll rip your throat out for doing this to me!"

"Oh, really?" The irritating Frenchman asked me and crossed his ankle over his knee before continuing, "And how is he going to find us before I tell him where to go? Did he put a tracing chip inside of you? Besides, I'll kill him the moment he comes through my threshold."

"You wish, you French shit!" I yelled.

"French shit?" he repeated. "Hmm... Funny when it comes from a British fang banger."

I felt like my eyes were going to fall out of their place in my skull and didn't say anything. I wondered, was he just showing off or did he really know something about my relationship with Lawrence?

"Don't try to deny it. I know everything."

"You don't know anything," I said dismissingly.

"Yes, I do. Your boyfriend is called Lawrence Hashbury. He was turned in 1789 in Cardiff and lives with Jack Ferrell who became a vampire in 1944. I planted one bug and micro cam in each room of their apartment and I've been observing them for a year, living across from them and waiting for the right moment to lure them into a trap. Now, that time has come."

I knew that my face was becoming pale as flour after I heard that. I asked:

"Who are you?"

"I'm Dastan Relaquert, a vampire hunter. Employee of the Vampire Activities Prevention Association," he answered with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Don't tell me something like that exists."

"Yes, it does. For 37 years. The founder is my boss, Alphonse Gillianson."

"When will you let me go?" I asked.

"Not so soon. The kidnap would be pointless."

"I'll scream. Someone will hear me and come over to check what's going on," I threatened him.

"Go ahead," he said and waved with his hand casually. "This house is in the middle of nowhere."

"Where is nowhere?" I asked.

"You tell me, foxy," he said, using my nickname. When Lawrence called me that it made me shiver, but now, coming from my kidnapper, it freaked the hell out of me.

"You don't have a life of your own, right?" I said bitterly, realizing that the person sitting across of me had seen and heard everything that ever happened between Lawrence and me in his apartment. "You don't have anyone to love and to be with, so you stalked us. Freak."

"Love? You're saying that the thing between you and the leech is love?" He asked casually and laughed. "That's not love. It's merely lust, and once it fades away, you'll break up."

"Shut up!" I yelled. "I don't have to listen to this crap."

"Right. I don't have to talk to you, either," he said, got up and pulled me upstairs after him all the way through the house. As we walked through it, I tried to memorize the path, in case I got the chance to run away.

He unlocked the door of the room at the start of the hall on the second floor and let me in, while saying:

"Welcome to your very own room. You'll stay here for a while." Then he pushed me to the bed.

I couldn't move a lot so I just watched him taking away all the potentially useful objects for me from the room - a pair of scissors and a ballpoint pen. Then, he approached me and cut the tape from my wrists and ankles, before throwing my clothes and cell phone from his hands onto the bed.

He strolled out, calling back at me:

"Don't bother trying to use your cell. No service here."

I launched myself off the bed to try escaping through the door before he locked it, but just as I held the doorknob he shut it and locked the door from the outside. I could hear his satisfied laughter as he walked away and I banged with my fists on the door, yelling:

"Let me out, bastard!"


	27. Imprisoned

_**A/N: **__New chapter, you know what to do :)_

**2****7. Imprisoned**

Since I was imprisoned in a room that held a bed, nightstand, tiny writing table, armchair and a TV table with a LCD TV on it, I continuously tried to find a way to escape. There was no use in crying, so I put my clothes and shoes on and breathed in deep as I thought about what I was going to do.

My first idea was escaping through the window, but I dismissed that possibility as I saw the white metal bars outside. Then, I tried to call Lawrence by using my cell phone and moving through the room to see if I could get any service. I couldn't. No service, just like my kidnapper said.

The last and also the brightest idea came after I had nothing left. I remembered how Dastan had taken the scissors out of the room and it reminded me that I knew how to pick a lock. That was one of the most useful things my ex ever taught me, just like playing basic chords on the guitar and reinstalling my computer's OS. I knew the exact procedure of picking, but the problem was that I didn't have the proper tools. Unless... I took two bobby pins out of my hair, straightened them out with a content grin and went in front of the door lock to pick it. I stuck one pin into the lock and began picking with the other.

When I was almost done and the door was just one pick from being unlocked, I heard steps outside in the hall. Immediately, I stood up, took a framed picture that I had noticed before off of the wall and hid behind the door, waiting to slam Dastan as he came in. I patiently waited until the key turned in the lock, the door opened and Dastan walked in.

Before he turned around and spotted me, I smacked him in the back of the head with the framed picture. He bowed down and moaned in pain:

"Ow! You bitch!"

I didn't lose a second but ran past him out of the room, knowing that he was going to catch up with me soon. Too bad I was still wearing my high heels and my flight down the stairs wasn't as fast as it should have been. I heard Dastan following me just a few steps behind. I couldn't afford myself any mistakes, so I ran, being careful not to trip and fall.

I dashed down to the living room, but as I realized that my path was blocked by three strangers, I froze in place, still catching my breath after the mad run.

"That was a stupid thing to do..." Dastan said from behind me, contently because I hadn't managed to escape his house.

"Meet my fellow hunters: Jeremy, Jean Paul and Pauline."

Three hunters smiled at me with obvious self-assurance and then the lean, platinum blonde woman with her long hair tied up in a high pony tail, who was supposed to be named Pauline, said:

"Don't make this more difficult than it should be. On Monday, you'll be back in London, after we finish your Romeo off."

"Well, guess what?" I said boldly, feeling responsible to mention Lawrence's strength, "My_ Romeo_ has killed another vampire to defend me, so I doubt it will be a problem for him to get rid of you four."

"Do you even hear yourself?" Pauline asked and motioned to her forehead, giving her opinion about my sanity. "That's not the way a mortal should speak about other mortals."

"Mortals usually don't kidnap other mortals either, Buffy."

"Very funny," she said with an acid smirk on her face. "Dastan, sit her over here. We need to do something."

. . .

Jack came back home with Hillary somewhere around four PM. The weather in London was still cloudy so they were able to return before twilight. As they entered the apartment, Jack asked me:

"Anything new?"

"No," I said and took a sip of whiskey from the glass that I held, to calm my tense nerves down. "I'm waiting for the kidnapper to call."

"You can count on me. You know that, right?" Jack asked me encouragingly and patted my shoulder.

"I know," I said and then looked at Hillary, who seemed a lot more fresh and lively than the last time I saw her. I asked her, "Did you have a good time?"

"It was awesome in Tokyo," she said excitedly but then the enthusiasm went away from her face, replaced by an apologetic expression before she said, "I'm sorry about Anne."

"There's still nothing to be sorry about. We'll go there and get her out, safe and sound," Jack told her optimistically as I thought about that.

"I hope so," I concluded and sighed heavily. My cell suddenly rang and snapped me out of my thoughts. I grabbed it instantly and answered the call after seeing that the caller ID was hidden:

"Hello? Anne?"

"Lawrence?" Her shaky voice responded.

"Anne, is that you?" I checked.

"Yes, it's me."

"Where are you? Have they done any harm to you?" I asked her.

"They haven't, for now. I'm in a house near..."

She started but was interrupted by a male voice with a foreign accent, "Well, I can't let you know that. Not yet."

"I'm warning you," I said menacingly, "You better bring her back to me or I'll make you wish that I kill you when we encounter."

"Oh, really? You really think that you're in a position for threats right now? Remember, I'm the one who threatens. Your _foxy's_ life depends just on your behavior," the stranger answered, with some pretty obvious satisfaction in his voice.

"And who the fuck are you?" I asked. "A suicidal vampire? I've already killed many, many of them."

"I know what you've been doing, but no; I'm not a leech. My occupation is slaughtering them."

"A suicidal mortal, I see," I said and laughed bitterly, wondering if the stranger was really as brave as he sounded on the phone. I could bet that he would piss his pants once I met him in person.

"Enough with this lovely chat," he said before giving me his last instructions, "Be prepared tomorrow after twilight to go wherever I want you to go."

"Fine. Now let me talk to her again," I demanded.

"OK. After all, it _is_ your last wish," he said and I heard the cell being handed back to Anne, before she asked, "Honey?'"

"I'm here, sweetheart," I answered caringly.

"I love you so much and I miss you more than I can stand," she said and I heard her crying lightly.

"It's the same for me. Now, don't cry. I promise you, we'll both come out alive tomorrow."

"I know, you're too strong and fast to lose."

"That's my girl. Be brave for me, will you?"

"I will. See you."

"Yes," I said and the call ended.

. . .

"That's it, Juliet," Dastan said and ended the call instead of me by pressing the button on the phone that was set on speaker, laying on the coffee table in front of us. I was calmer because I had heard Lawrence's smooth, reassuring voice and I eagerly waited for the next night.

I was returned back to the room from which I almost managed to escape and I didn't have further intentions to run away from the house anymore. I knew that Lawrence wouldn't come alone tomorrow night. Jack was probably going to accompany him and help him. If killing other vampires was such a piece of cake for them, then getting rid of four mortals definitely shouldn't be too hard.

. . .

"OK..." I said after the call ended, rubbed my palms against each other and asked Jack, "We're gonna need some back up tomorrow, do you know any vampire willing enough to go with us?"

He laughed menacingly and said:

"Besides me, I think I could talk Yuri into this and maybe Emily, if you remember her."

"Yeah, I do," I said and remembered a honey blonde female vampire from New York that once had sex with me.

"So, who's the cunt who kidnapped your girl?"

"A vampire slayer," I answered curtly and finished my half full glass of whiskey. When I looked at him, Jack's expression was like he didn't believe what I just said.

"A what?" He checked.

"Vampire slayer, vampire hunter... You know, like Van Helsing, Buffy..."

"They actually exist?"

"Apparently."

"Now, that's just great. What else exists, werewolves, Smurfs, unicorns...?"

Although I was tense like hell, I chuckled at his sarcasm before hearing Hillary asking in worry:

"What's going to happen tomorrow?"

"Nothing for you to be afraid of. We'll go and meet with the hunter," I answered her since Jack was still dealing with what I had told him a few moments before.

"Will it be dangerous for you?" She asked and looked at me before glancing at Jack.

"No, it shouldn't be," I answered as Jack took the cell from the table and dialed someone's number. He waited for a while until the person answered his call and then said welcoming:

"Emily, honey...It's Jack," I glanced at Hillary to see her reaction at the pet name that Jack gave to our vampire acquaintance. I could tell Hillary didn't like it. Anne was right when she said that there was some chemistry between Jack and Hillary, after all. Jack chuckled and continued his chatter with Emily, "Are you in the mood for killing a ridiculous mortal tomorrow after twilight?"


	28. Taking Back

_**A/N: **__Hi, here comes a new chapter and I think you'll like it... Full of action and quite long... So have fun reading and tell me what you think :)_

**28. Taking Back**

I really didn't know what I'd been doing in the past 24 hours. Almost nothing but expecting the moment when Lawrence would come to take me away from this damn house.

Somewhere around seven PM, Pauline came to tell me to come downstairs with her. I followed obediently and was startled when I saw Dastan, Jeremy and Jean Paul's preparations for Lawrence's arrival. They were all charging their weapons with what looked like wooden bullets. I didn't know that someone actually produced things like that but I didn't like that fact at all.

"You can go to the kitchen and take something to eat, Juliet." Pauline said as she took her shotgun and sat down, starting to prepare it for the upcoming evening. I nodded and went in the direction of the small kitchen.

When I walked in, before everything I took a kitchen knife and tucked it beneath the back lip of my jeans. I took it just to have it in case I needed it once Lawrence arrived. After that, I took a doughnut from the bag on the kitchen counter and ate it, feeling anxious.

"You! Get over here!" Dastan's voice called at me from the living room and I walked out from the kitchen, carrying another doughnut in my hand.

"Why?" I wondered, acting innocently.

"We need to keep an eye on you," he answered and smiled at me.

"No reason to smile at me. Stockholm Syndrome is not going to work here, asshole," I said defiantly and sat down on a sofa, cautious not to cut myself with the knife that I had stolen.

"Whatever..." Dastan said and took the phone from the table, dialed someone's number and waited for a response, putting the call on speaker.

"Hello?" Lawrence answered.

"Mosquito! Are you ready?" Dastan asked him as he polished his gun.

"More than ready, Van Helsing," Lawrence answered self-confidently and I chuckled contently.

"OK. You'll come to this place..." Dastan started and then explained the location of the house before saying, "No monkey business. And by that I mean bringing your pals over with you."

"Fine," Lawrence answered. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes. And when I get there, you'll wish that I hadn't."

. . .

I put the cell in my pocket and lifted my foot onto the coffee table to tie up my combat boots, a pair that I hadn't worn in more than fifty years. As I was doing so, the three remaining vampires in my apartment were also getting ready. Jack was tying up his grey All Stars, Yuri was zipping his jacket up and Emily was just staring at Hillary in a really bad-mannered way that made Hillary shy.

"Emily, enough with the eye burning..." Jack warned her before I cleared my throat to make them all listen to me.

"Listen...Here's how we're going to do this thing. When we find the house, we'll barge in, finish with everyone in there except Anne and that's it, OK?" I asked and glanced at them all to see their nodding in agreement.

"No fun this time?" Yuri complained.

"Do whatever you want to do but I want Anne to be safe all the time," I said.

"So, you're not into vampires anymore?" Emily purred and emerged next to me, stroking my shoulder with her index finger, obviously intending to remind me of the time that we had once before.

"I never was," I cut her off, with my mind occupied by Anne only. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"Sure, stud. You're too handsome to be refused," she said and tucked some of her honey blonde hair behind her ear. I shook my head, hoping that she wouldn't try to rape me somewhere eventually. Beast.

"Jack?" Hillary asked quietly as she stood and went into the kitchen, away from us all.

"Yes?" Jack asked her and came to her.

"I need to do one thing in case you don't return," Hillary said with her voice about to break.

"I'll come back, I promise," Jack said and stroked her hair with his fingers.

"In case that you don't..." Hillary said and stood on top of her toes, giving Jack a brief kiss on the lips and hugging him.

"Don't worry," Jack told her before brushing over her back with his palm. I stood up and said:

"Time to get going."

After maybe five minutes we were all headed to northeast France.

. . .

I was so nervous while we all waited for Lawrence's arrival that I was constantly tapping my fingers against my thigh. The hunters, who were around me making their last preparations, seemed more than ready for what was about to happen. I sighed, closed my eyes and leaned back to relax my tense nerves. Suddenly I heard an ear throbbing noise of breaking and colliding.

As I yanked my eyes open, I saw what had happened. The entrance doors were thrown down to the floor, obviously after Lawrence and Jack had kicked them out from their frame in the wall. The two of them were standing each on one door, looking at the hunters in a sinister way. Behind them, there were Yuri and a female vampire with straight blonde hair, one that I had never seen before.

As the hunters stood up and aimed at Lawrence and the three remaining vampires, Lawrence laughed menacingly and said:

"You better give up, brainless mortals. We have no patience for your idiocy."

As he said that, he growled at Dastan, Pauline, Jeremy and Jean Paul before looking at me with a look full of encouragement, trying to show me that I had nothing to worry about.

"No chance," Dastan said and lifted his loaded gun, aiming at Lawrence and continuing, "The deal was your life for hers, so you better stick with it."

"No chance," Lawrence repeated Dastan's words, mocking him directly. "I'll kill you before you blink."

"Not if I kill you first," Pauline threatened while aiming at him. Before I noticed anything, she killed the blonde female vampire to prove her intention. I flinched because of the blood that was spurred along the wall behind where the killed vampire had stood until the shot.

"Now, you are next," Pauline said briskly as she reloaded her weapon and aimed at Lawrence.

"No!" I yelled at her and drew out the knife that I had stolen, causing all persons present to stare at me, mortal and immortal.

I loved Lawrence too much to allow him to die because of me. I knew that there was a way for him to bring me back to life in the case that I got killed. At worst, he would have to turn me into a vampire, which wasn't such a terrible idea to me considering that my mortal life was quite pathetic. But if he was killed, there was no way to bring him back. I was completely determined because of Pauline's seriousness and I said, "Leave him or I'll kill myself."

"Anne, don't you dare!" Lawrence ordered me with the most serious expression that I had ever seen on his face.

Pauline turned around to him, because my suicide intention was obviously not interesting enough for her, and aimed at Lawrence again. I saw that I had no choice because her intention was too strong.

I didn't say anything pathetic before striking the knife over my left wrist, I just gasped sharply when I felt the pain.

After that, all eyes in the room were again on me and my distraction turned out to be successful. I hadn't even realized what I had done until the blood started to run full-force out of the fresh wound on my left wrist.

"No!" Lawrence yelled as I felt that the blood was running out way too fast, making me dizzy. Vampires and hunters all went blurry and I fainted.

. . .

I knew only one thing when Anne lost her conscience. I knew that I had little time to fix things and that the seconds, not minutes, were too precious. I launched myself forward to kill a male hunter with reddish hair while Jack did the same with another. As I snapped the hunter's neck like a twig in a classic Damon Salvatore move, we lost our final ally. Yuri was killed by the blonde female hunter who had also killed Emily. Obviously it was time for Jack and me to start being efficient.

Without looking at Jack, I said while rushing at the two remaining hunters and dodging their bullets:

"Take their weapons away, NOW!"

He did the same as me and we managed to corner the two French vampire hunter scumbags. After tearing the guns away from their hands, Jack and I took a roll of duct tape and tied the hunters up before pushing them down to the floor. I kicked Anne's kidnapper so hard that he passed out.

"How does it feel to be tied up, Van Helsing and Buffy?" Jack asked them and growled menacingly. If I hadn't been occupied with finding a way to bring Anne back to life, I would have laughed.

I felt my nerves getting too thin and the feeling was unbearable. I kneeled next to Anne who lay on the floor unconscious. Hearing her lagging heartbeat I shouted to Jack:

"Find the first aid box."

While I looked at Anne's wound closely and gripped her wrist tight, trying to make the blood run more slowly, I heard the female hunter answer hysterically:

"First drawer from the top. There."

Jack retrieved the blue first aid box and brought it to me. I opened it and eyed the contents, wondering if I should use the bandage.

"What are we going to do?" Jack asked me. "How much blood has she lost?"

"A lot," I answered curtly while trying to put more pressure on the wound and figure out what was I going to do. "Anything but a transfusion is out of question."

"But we can't get her to a hospital that fast," Jack answered. "You'll have to turn her if you don't want to lose her, Lawrence."

"No way. I'm not doing that to her," I cut his idea off. I couldn't condemn Anne to vampire existence. Not without her permission. There had to be another way to save her.

"So, what's your other solution?" Jack asked me and I literally felt the mental clock in my head ticking slowly, displaying how much time Anne had left. Very little.

"Go and find some blood. Hurry!" I yelled although my instruction was very useless. I didn't know what I would do with the blood once I got it. As Jack rose up in one fast move, the female's voice from behind said:

"Wait! We'll help you, just don't kill us."

"Really?" I asked her cynically and unrolled some bandage to wrap around Anne's wounded wrist.

"The association has the antidote for turning vampires back to mortals," she answered. My head turned to her instantly and my bewildered expression was the same as Jack's.

"Are you fucking with me, bitch?" I asked in irritation and stood up, wanting to kill her right away. Jack stayed by Anne and finished bandaging her wrist.

"I'm deadly serious," she said in panic.

"And I'm just deadly," I said and extended my fangs. "There's no such thing. We would've found out about it already."

"Please, you have to trust me," she said and seemed honest, with tears starting to well in her eyes. "You'll get it too if you don't kill us. Turn the girl and then give her the light blue vial from the first aid box. That's it."

As I turned around, Jack was already holding the little glass container with a weird expression. A greedy one.

"Jack, if our friendship means at least something to you, you'll give me that. Now," I said in desperation, worried for Anne who was still lifeless on the floor. He gulped heavily, squeezed his eyes shut and asked me:

"Are we going to get it too? You know how much I want it!"

"Yes, you will!" The female hunter shrieked and explained, "Our boss will give it to you; he was keeping a record of you two and he's fond of you."

"That better be true," I answered and sighed when Jack handed me the vial with an apologetic expression. I kneeled by Anne before asking the hunter, "How does it work?"

"Turn her and then you can give her sedatives to make her sleep during the retransformation."

"Is it painful?" I checked.

"Just as turning into a vampire, that's why you'll put her to sleep."

"How do you know that?" I asked when I picked Anne up and leaned her lifeless body against me so that I could bite her.

"Because I was once a vampire," she answered. Jack turned back to her and commented:

"Well, I'll be damned..."

I checked for Anne's pulse. None. She was already dead. I bit her and started drinking her blood. I needed to drink about half the blood from her body and then feed her with about the same amount of my blood to start the transformation.

Once I was done drinking, I bit my wrist and brought it to Anne's lips after I separated them with my fingers. When my blood started flowing into Anne's mouth, Jack asked me:

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Pretty sure," I answered and kept feeding Anne until the same time had elapsed as while I was drinking from her. Then I picked her up and lay her on the sofa. I kneeled next to her and felt that my tears for her were just about to roll down my cheeks. First tears after 221 years. I ignored Jack and the two hunters; there were just Anne and me in the room at that moment.

"Don't die on me, baby," I whispered in her ear and kissed her immobile lips.

"You might want to prepare the painkillers and the sedatives before it all starts," the female hunter reminded me but I stayed by Anne's side. I heard Jack walking to the corner and taking the duct tape off of her before saying:

"You'll take care of that."

I gripped Anne's hand that felt as cold as my own and hoped for the best. Praying would hardly be useful, since I was an atheist. Pauline brought three unused syringes and three little glass containers holding vials, including the hypothetical antidote.

"You do realize we'll kill you if the antidote is fake, don't you?" Jack threatened her while I stared at Anne's eyelids, wanting them to open.

"I wasn't lying, you'll see," she answered and filled one syringe with something completely transparent and the other one with a slightly yellow liquid.

. . .

Anne didn't wake up until dawn when we were together in the basement of her kidnapper's house. At first I didn't notice her slight movements but when she let out the first moan in pain, it was time to react.

"Jack!" I yelled and he came down along with Pauline, the female hunter.

"What is it?" He checked and I felt Anne's heartbeat before answering:

"It... It worked. She's waking up."

"We better give her the drugs," Pauline said and after my nod of agreement, she kneeled next to her and injected the sedatives and the painkillers. "And now we have to wait until she turns, eight hours approximately. She'll be asleep all the time and won't feel a thing. Stay with her here, it will be sunny upstairs."

I sat down on the floor by the small bed on which Anne lay and started waiting. Jack positioned himself in the corner opposite me and Pauline decided to leave.

"Hey, you," Jack called to her. When she turned, he asked, "Can you get us some blood?"

"Sure," she answered and left, closing the door behind her. She returned soon, carrying a blood bag for me and another one for Jack. When we were left alone again, I tore the cap of my bag open and drank to recover from giving my blood to Anne.

"Will one be enough? Do you want mine, too?" Jack asked before opening his bag. I glared at him and just nodded his offer off. He asked, "Are you mad because I didn't give you the antidote right away?"

"If you were someone else, I would have been," I answered. "I'm glad you didn't let your selfish nature guide you after all."

"I couldn't. You're too much of a friend to me."

"I'm glad to hear that."

I finished my blood and continued staring at Anne. The drugs were effective, she didn't move at all but her heart was pumping regularly.

"Where the hell did I leave my cell?" Jack asked and patted his pockets when I gazed at him.

"You're so dumb sometimes," I answered and took out my own phone before tossing it to him and saying, "You left it with Hilary so that you could reach her."

"Oh, right," he answered and checked before dialing the number, "May I?"

I just nodded and returned my gaze to Anne. His chatter with Hillary didn't catch my attention and eventually I fell asleep, leaned against the bed.

. . .

A little more than eight hours later, I walked into the basement and realized that the two vampires were still snoozing and Dastan's prisoner still lay on the bed because of the medications. I had already told Dastan to call the headquarters of the Association so I just had to check if the girl was already a vampire.

Because the sleeping drug's effect had worn off, I shook the girl strongly to wake her up. She opened her eyes and growled. She was definitely a vampire now. The dark haired vampire, Lawrence, was awake and by her side in a moment after hearing her aggressive snarl.

"What..." She asked, looking disoriented and bewildered. When her fangs extended for the first time, probably against her will, she screamed and asked in shock, "What happened to me?"

"Anne, it's OK..." Lawrence reassured her and held her shoulders. "We had to turn you but there's a way to make you mortal again."

"I'm a vampire?"

"Yes, honey. You would have died if I hadn't turned you," Lawrence explained. Just then, the blonde guy woke up too and stood by the bed to see what was happening. Lawrence took Anne's face in his hands, brought his face closer and spoke slowly after motioning to me to inject the antidote when possible:

"Sshhh now. Calm down. I love you, you'll wake up soon."

Before she could protest, I stuck the antidote syringe into her neck and followed it with another one filled with sedatives. She fell asleep immediately. I handed him the third painkiller syringe and told him, "Inject this after ten or so minutes."

I walked out of the basement and closed the door. Dastan mentioned as he walked behind me:

"Boss has arrived, lock them up."


	29. The Deal

_**A/N: **__Here comes a new chapter, enjoy reading and of course write me a review and tell me your opinion :)_

**29. The Deal**

Bright light managed to make my eyelids separate from each other. No, it wasn't just any kind of light. It was sunlight. I sat up in the big, comfortable bed before stretching out my limbs, which were bathed in sun, and eyed the room. I was alone in it but I could hear children's laughter along with a blissful female voice somewhere in the distance. I ignored the confusion about how I wasn't already melting in the sun and decided to find out where I was.

I stood up from the bed and put my feet down on the warm floor. There was a white shirt on the floor; I picked it up and put it on before exiting the room. I ended up in a long hallway and the walls were bright white like in the room where I woke up. I walked through the hall and reached a staircase going down.

As I descended the last stair the laughter became louder. My attention was caught by a door that seemed to be leading to some kind of back yard. I went out through it and before my eyes could adjust themselves to the bright sun, I felt something small hugging me around my legs and saying cheerfully:

"Daddy!"

My glance went down immediately to see who had called me. A tiny little girl with hair colored somewhere between Anne's chocolate brown and my charcoal black, that waved on the light breeze, stood in front of me. I lifted her up instinctively and looked into her eyes. They were some shade that was a mix of Anne's and mine. I supposed that she was my daughter but I couldn't remember how she was conceived or when she was born. I called for her supposed mother while holding this child that was probably mine:

"Anne, love?"

"Yes, Lawrence?" Anne asked and her voice startled me as she emerged behind me from nowhere, holding a huddle wrapped up in a baby blue blanket in her arms carefully. She wore a light, white dress with thin straps that came down below her knees.

"Um..." I mused as I stroked the girl's hair lightly with my hand, "I seem to be having amnesia...Who is this lovely creature?"

"Honey...You're so silly..." Anne answered me and came closer while slowly removing the blanket from the little huddle in her arms. "It's Maryanne, our daughter."

"Maryanne?" I repeated and grinned to my daughter that I was holding, who was named after my beloved mother. "Nice to meet you, little girl."

"And this..." Anne started as she brought the newborn in the blanket close to me, revealing a chubby face with black eyes. "This is Ethan, our son."

"When did we get them?" I asked, confused but dazed at the same time as little Ethan held on to my pinkie finger with his tiny hand. Anne just smiled and came close to my ear before whispering and sounding distant:

"Lawrence? Lawrence? Love, would you wake up now?"

As I heard that, I snapped out of the surreal dream that I just had and opened my eyes.

"Finally..." Anne's voice said, not distant anymore and I felt movement on me. As I became completely awake and aware of the situation, I realized that Anne was straddling my waist and eyeing me curiously. "What did you dream about? You were grinning like you just won the jackpot."

"Um..." I started and curled my arms around her. "Something so beautiful that it's just indescribable."

"Oh, tell me..." she said curiously.

"You, me, the sun, and our children," I said, still dazed by the dream.

"Children? How many?" Anne asked curiously.

"Daughter Maryanne and son Ethan," I answered as I remembered the two children from my dream.

"What were they like?" She wondered.

"The girl looked to be a combination of us two and was around four years old. The boy had my eyes and was a newborn."

"You know, that dream might come true if you get the antidote..." She started imaginatively, but I cut her off:

"Don't. Just in case I don't get it after all."

I hated desperation and I knew that it was exactly what I was going to feel if I wasn't turned back into mortal after all.

"OK," Anne accepted and kissed me juicily, reminding me vividly of the rainy night before the morning she was kidnapped. As her lips separated from mine, I asked her, although I had a hunch about her intentions:

"What was the rush about getting me awake?"

She chuckled sensually and teased me before biting her lower lip:

"Well...Guess."

I laughed silently and answered:

"Well, that will have to wait... We're not alone..."

Then I motioned towards Jack, who was sleeping in the corner across from us. After a disappointed grimace, Anne exhaled heavily and answered:

"Ugh, I completely forgot... So, when will they let us out of here?"

"I don't know," I said and then asked curiously, "Do you remember anything?"

"Everything," she answered curtly.

"And how do you feel about what has happened to us; to you?"

"Mortal, thank God," she said and we both laughed silently, pleased because the antidote proved not to be fake after all. "OK, I guess. My plan worked after all. I saved you."

"Yes and thank you for that, but don't you ever do something that stupid again," I warned her and ran my hand over her hair appreciatively, remembering that I could've lost her earlier.

"I won't, except when it comes to saving you," she answered. "If you became endangered ever again, I would do the same without too much hesitation."

Just when I wanted to say something back, the door of the basement unlocked and Anne's kidnapper called to us:

"Hashbury, my boss needs to see you."

I got up from the bed unwillingly and walked towards him even more unwillingly.

"And you can go upstairs now if you want," he said to Anne and I heard her follow me to walk out. I was led into the living room, heard weapons reloading and faced the boss of the vampire hunters association sitting on the sofa casually, waiting for me to show up.

. . .

As the founder of Vampire Activities Prevention Association, I have met a lot more bloodthirsty vampires than those who were friendly to mortals and unfriendly to their own kind. Actually, I have never met a mortal fan that was a vampire. After all, that was the exact reason to form the association 37 years ago.

When that black-haired, 221-year-old vampire born and turned in Cardiff walked into Relaquert's living room, I wondered if he really had the potential to be a vampire slayer and to earn his antidote that way. My security aimed at him just as he walked towards me but I waved to them to lower their weapons and stood up before stretching out a hand to Lawrence Hashbury.

"I'm Alphonse Gillianson."

He shook my hand with his own and said politely:

"Lawrence Hashbury."

"Sit, Lawrence," I said and watched him sit down on the sofa across from the one that I sat on afterwards. I cleared my throat and spoke, "It's a rare opportunity to meet a vampire like you. I reckon I haven't had any of those opportunities until now."

He just kept silent so I kept the conversation light.

"Thirsty, maybe?"

"I could use some blood, thank you." As he said that, I looked at Pauline who was already walking toward the kitchen.

"Let's speak about the reason I came here today," I said and eyed him. He seemed really interested in what I had to say. "First of all, I should tell you a few things about the association."

The event which directly caused the founding of the Vampires Activities Prevention Association took place thirty-seven years ago in Rennes, France. I had encountered my first vampire in my life back then, and of course, I had been turned. My best friend Dominique was an extraordinary biologist and chemist, so when I came to him after the transformation, he decided to try to help me. He took a sample of my blood and started analyzing it, comparing it to his own to see the difference, which could help him find the way to retransform me.

After maybe four days of work, he was finally able to produce the chemical which was supposed to be the antidote for the only thing that was making our blood samples different from each other - vampire venom. The first two produced antidotes were ineffective, but the third one, which took two weeks of Dominique's work, did the right thing and turned me back into a mortal after an excruciating process.

My friend and I wanted to be sure that every infected mortal would be able to get the antidote and to have a normal mortal life again, or at least to make sure that the number of existing vampires was shrinking. We formed a secret association; secret because people would have declared us lunatics if we even spoke about the fact that vampires really existed.

When I was finished telling the story to the vampire sitting across from me, he drank some of the blood that Pauline brought for him before asking me:

"So that's it; you simply take that antidote and you're turned back into a mortal?"

"Yes. You saw the effect on your girlfriend."

"What do I have to do in order to get the antidote?"

"Well, certainly you have to work for the Association," I answered.

"For how long?" He asked instantly.

"Let's see...How old is your mortal companion?" I asked.

"She's 21. But what does that have to do with..."

"Four years. At least," I cut him off. "Starting tomorrow."

"I accept. What are the conditions?" He accepted automatically.

"You'll be informed about them when you start working for us."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why didn't you kill me after all? The message that was left in my apartment said it was my life for Anne's..." he wondered.

"Honestly, because I need some new, proficient hunters. And you seem just like the right material to be one."

"I heard that you've been keeping a record of me and Jack and me. How?"

"Micro cams and bugs have been planted in your apartment for a year. Relaquert was living across from you all the time."

As he seemed way too confused and trying to deal with what he just heard, I asked:

"Any wishes before the recruitment?"

"I have four of them," he said curtly.

"Demanding, I see," I said to him and laughed silently before encouraging him to tell me what he wanted. Four wishes seemed fair, one for each year of his future vampire slayer career. "Go on."

"I want you to give this offer to Jack Ferrell, too. He's been doing the same things as me, so I think that he deserves it, too," he said seriously.

"I know. He'll also be given the opportunity that you were given," I explained. Ferrell has great potential for a vampire hunter, too, and the Association could use his work.

"Oh. OK," he nodded and continued. "Next, I want a night with Anne before leaving."

"Of course," I accepted, not bringing that into question at all. I could recognize love and their relationship certainly had a lot of love brought into it.

"Third. I want to beat the hell out of Relaquert," Hashbury said and rubbed his left fist against his right palm.

"Negotiable. He did mess up during the kidnap."

"And finally, I want his car," he ended his demands.

. . .

Maybe an hour after Lawrence went to meet the chief of the Association, he entered the room where I was in. As he closed the door, he locked it and I walked towards him. His expression was mixed up; it contained way too many different feelings. I could see the glow in his eyes, which I supposed represented excitement and sorrow. I asked breathlessly, curious what he was feeling:

"What did he say?"

He sighed and answered after standing before me and putting his arms around me:

"We have a deal. I'm leaving tomorrow morning for training in France, along with Jack."

"What? Tomorrow? Are you coming back?" I asked in disbelief.

"Not for a while, I think. We need to use this night the best we can, darling. It's time to bid farewell."

"Bid farewell?" I repeated, not believing his words and feeling that my voice was about to crack. "Does this mean that you're leaving me?"

He nodded away and answered:

"In one way, yes. I'll be a vampire slayer just like Jack, and Gillianson told me that I'll be working all the time, probably far away from London. So, we won't be seeing each other as frequently as we would like to."

"How long are you going to work for the Association?" I wondered, trying to keep myself reasonable and stop the inevitable tears.

"Four years," he answered and observed my reaction. The tears started streaming down my cheeks as he said, "If you won't be able to wait for me and if you find another man, I will understand."

"I don't think I will find someone like you. And I don't even want to try," I said desperately.

"I just wanted you to know that I'll understand if you do. You can let me out of your life if you want..."

"Lawrence!" I warned him and the change in my voice startled him. "I'm not letting you go, OK?"

He didn't speak after that. I didn't either, but my body did, just as his. We embraced each other, joined our lips and made love.

We left the bed somewhere around three AM when he had to start dressing and preparing to leave with his future boss, Gillianson, for the Association's headquarters in Rennes, France. At half past three, he was already gone, driven away in a black BMW SUV. I was told by Pauline that I could sleep in Dastan's house and that she would drive me back home once I woke up.

I remained alone lying in the empty bed, on wrinkled sheets, trying to suppress my tears. I felt the bite marks on my neck, which were given to me by Lawrence maybe ten minutes before. I had longed for his real bite for some time, and at that moment, I asked him to do so, without caring about the fact that I was going to need to wear a scarf or something like that for some time until the marks healed. I wanted to have something to remind me of him vividly, and I wanted him to remember my taste and me. I sighed heavily and wondered when I was going to see him again before shoving my face in the pillow and sobbing.


	30. Meeting Again

_**A/N: **__Hi everyone... Thanks for keeping up with my story and for reviewing :) Here's chapter 30, not so sad as the last one; I think you'll like it :D Enjoy reading :)_

**30. Meeting Again**

Two and a half months after my departure from Lawrence, I managed to return to my everyday routine: constant studying, passing exhausting exams and way too little sleep. I got myself a roommate; of course, it was Hillary. Both Lawrence and Jack were recruited by the Association so they weren't in their apartment anymore. Hillary couldn't be left alone in the empty apartment on a suspicious city block, so the only solution was to allow her to move in with me.

I gave her my dad's room. We were getting along just fine because we were in the same situation - we were in love with the vampires who had to leave us for a while because of their future, which hopefully involved us, too.

The main problem with Hillary was that she had never finished school because at the age of fourteen she was put into the sanitarium where Lawrence found her. Because of that, she couldn't work almost anywhere. So, we signed her up for evening school in order to get her an occupation. She decided to become a hairdresser, motivated by the death of Yuri, who did her hair in "such a complex and nice, yet simple way."

One evening when she went to her classes, I was left completely alone. After taking a refreshing and soothing shower, I exited the bathroom and entered my bedroom, which was in complete darkness. I was too lazy to flip the light on so I walked the well-known route towards the closet in order to retrieve some clothes when I was suddenly held firmly around my waist.

Before I even thought of letting out a scream, an abnormally cold palm covered my mouth. I sighed in relief before mumbling something that was supposed to sound like:

"Lawrence?"

I could feel his familiar fragrance in the air. I squinted in the dark, saw two eyes glowing at the correct height and ran a hand over the stranger's hair to be completely sure that it was Lawrence's. The strands were sharp, slick with hair wax and slightly spiky. Score.

"It's me, foxy. Now sssssh," Lawrence whispered into my ear to confirm my guess and stroked my cheek lightly with his palm, which he removed from my mouth before warning me, "I'm on duty. There's another vampire in your house."

I remained completely silent as he carefully led me back towards the lit up bathroom, motioned me to stay quiet and shut the door; leaving me alone in the bathroom. My knees began shaking, both out of fear that there was an unknown vampire in my house and of course, because Lawrence had come to London after such a long time.

After maybe five minutes, I heard an intense gasp and some angry grunting. Soon, Lawrence called for me from my room:

"It's safe. Come out now, Anne."

I did so right away and went to the bedroom. When I walked in, Lawrence was casually dropping the dead vampire's corpse through my window as I switched the light on. How convenient. It was a good thing that my yard was quite secluded. Otherwise, it would have been quite hard to explain a dead body being thrown from the window.

"Where did you find him?" I asked Lawrence and rubbed my temples nervously, considering the fact that the dead vampire had come into my house without my notice, and that his plan was probably to suck all the blood out of me.

"I chased him down your street and then suddenly he entered your house. You didn't lock the front door," Lawrence explained.

"Yes, I did," I confirmed.

"No, you did not," he exclaimed and closed the window. "It was unlocked."

"Hillary," I said. "She probably forgot to do it when she was leaving."

"That girl is too careless. Tell her to watch out."

"Will do," I said and stayed silent for a while. "But wait, why did the vamp choose my house in particular?"

"I've got no idea. Jack and I were trying to lure him into a trap. I was chasing him through your street right in the direction where Jack was, at the end of the street. Suddenly, the vamp figured out our plan and decided to take a turn into the house that seemed most convenient. Unfortunately, it was yours."

"Oh," I said in realization. Then, my brain returned to the living and reminded me who was in my room after almost three months that we hadn't seen each other.

I launched myself into Lawrence's arms instantly and kissed him passionately. He welcomed my lips just as perfectly as each time before and I felt the same old tingles and fire. His hands went around my waist once again to hold me tightly.

"I missed you so freaking much," I mused between two kisses and held him around his firm, muscular waist.

"I missed you, too; every single day and night," he said and cupped my face in his hands, caressing my cheeks with his thumbs.

"So, how's at work? Why haven't you called me all this time?" I asked him and positioned my head to its old place at his left collarbone.

"The Association has very strict rules for hunters. Private calls aren't allowed, because _they decrease the focus on work_," he said mockingly, lifting his left wrist in front of my sight to show me a strange bracelet before saying, "And this thing, it controls every single move that I make. If I try to run away while on duty, it shocks me and I faint."

"Did you try to run away?"

"No. This job is too important for me, the final prize too valuable," he said and stroked my hair with his fingers. It made me shiver. I missed his touch each second he was away. His fingers remained intertwined in my hair as he asked me, "I suppose you want me to stay for a while?"

"Am I that obvious?" I asked, chuckled silently and embraced him firmly.

"More than obvious," he mused.

"But aren't you supposed to work, instead of being here with me?" I wondered.

"Don't worry, Jack and I took care of that," he explained. "We got a day off."

"Nice..." I said.

"Very, very nice..." he murmured before lifting me up slightly and kissing me contently. The huge towel that was around my body decided to make things more amusing and simply slipped down to my ankles, leaving me completely naked.

"What a naughty towel... What do we have here?" Lawrence asked playfully, glanced down and traced my curves with his palms after setting me back on my feet.

"All yours," I answered and felt his hands trace my spine, heating up the blood in my veins and making the good old goose bumps appear.

"Undress me, then. My hands are too busy," he said and lowered his head down to nibble my earlobe while still exploring my body with his agile, icy fingers. I was too lazy to undo all the buttons on his pearl white shirt one by one, so I surprised myself by tearing the shirt open after undoing the second one from the bottom, making the white buttons flutter in all directions.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk...You animal..." Lawrence pretended to be disapproving and said after taking the ruined shirt off in a brisk move, "I loved that shirt."

"Sorry..." I said breathlessly as he paid attention to the same spot on my neck where he had bit me the last time.

"I don't like my pants, though," he stated and I reached down automatically to unbuckle his belt and unfasten his pants. I managed in doing so and we tumbled towards the bed before falling down on it, with him above me. Just as he slipped his boxers down, we heard Hillary's perky voice coming from the first story:

"Anne? Guess who came!"

"Jack?" I asked Lawrence breathlessly as we jumped up from the bed, trying desperately to dress again and unscramble our brains, flooded with lust.

"I guess," Lawrence stated and I wrapped myself in the towel again before saying cranky:

"Oh, fuck-a-doo."

Before we went down the staircase, Lawrence pulled his pants back up, zipped them and put his ruined shirt on. Jack and Hillary held each other's hands casually while waiting for us. Yes, they had gotten something going since the day I almost bled out. Hillary said to Lawrence:

"Hey, L... Tell Jack to stop freaking me out in the street, would you?"

"You heard her, Jack..." Lawrence said, still gathering his breath and trying to button up his shirt. It didn't work, due to the ripped off buttons. I said tunelessly:

"Sorry."

He just smiled and gave up on buttoning up.

"Whoa...You two are suspiciously messy," Jack stated and eyed Lawrence's and my ruffled hair, my beet red cheeks and Lawrence's shirt with no buttons. The towel around me instead of clothes wasn't helping either. Jack just chuckled as he realized what was going on and said, "Hillary, this is the textbook example of a couple interrupted in doing naughty things, trying desperately to look decent and casual."

Hillary chuckled silently like a little kid as Jack grinned at Lawrence who was lip-syncing some nasty things to him. I coughed theatrically and said:

"Now that you know our dirty little secret, I'm gonna go and get dressed."

"And I'll be right back," Lawrence added, going out while I ran up the stairs to put some clothes on.

Maybe ten minutes later, I was completely dressed and as I walked out of the room, I heard car brakes squealing and a car pulling up to my house. I glanced through the window. It was the same black Mercedes in which I was driven away from London during the kidnapping. I wondered why the hell Dastan Relaquert had come to my house.

. . .

I headed over to Anne's house, driving the Mercedes. It had become my official vehicle two and a half months ago, when I started working for the Association. I rarely used it, since I did all my traveling by flying, but it was nice to drive that sleek, black and fast baby every now and then. Speaking of cars, I have been a typical male since they started to look so dashing. I have always wanted one.

As I stepped out of it, I saw Anne glancing through her window with a strange facial expression, as if she was frightened. Then I remembered. The Mercedes was the same car she was driven away in to Relaquert's house when he kidnapped her. I slammed the door shut and flew up to her open window, landing in front of her.

"You have a car?" She asked as my feet touched the floor in her room.

"Oh yes. The Association gave it to me for my vampire hunting needs."

"Nice," she said. "I was confused at first; I thought that the French scumbag had come here."

"Don't worry," I answered and chuckled as I remembered the way I hammered him on the first day of my training. "He has learned his lesson not to mess with me ever again."

"How?" Anne wondered.

"Well, when I spoke with my boss for the first time about this job, he allowed me to make four requests."

"And what did you ask him for?" She asked and sat in her black chair.

"To give Jack the same opportunity, to give me the Mercedes, to let me have one night with you and to allow me to beat the hell out of Relaquert."

"So, what did you do to him?"

"I stalked him when he was leaving the headquarters and gave him lots of bruises."

"You bully," she said and laughed along with me before asking, "So, what's been going on in Rennes?"

"First day, I was given this bracelet, just like Jack, then the constitution for slayer's activity, containing all the rules and restrictions, along with a room in the Association's headquarters. We had a week to study the rules and get familiar with the VAPA's constitution," I explained before continuing, "A week after, both Jack and I were sent to Paris at night to start killing vampires."

"And how do they know if you're really doing the job?"

"We must send them a MMS each time we kill a vampire, and the message must contain the picture of the kill."

"Interesting."

"I guess," I said and sighed before proposing, "But now, let's go downstairs before I take advantage of you on this very desk."

She moved towards the door and started going down the stairs, swooshing her hips for me in a tempting way as she teased:

"It wouldn't be taking advantage, you know. I'm willing as a porn star."

After her devilish wink and my content laugh, we joined Jack and Hillary in the living room. Hillary was sitting across Jack's lap and playing with his hair, which needed a cut.

"Oh, would you please braid him for me, sweetie?" I asked her and continued while laughing, "I always wanted to see him in a Rapuntzel style."

"Um, yeah, and Anne - could you shave Lawrence's hair, I always thought that Bruce Willis' hairstyle would fit him..."

We burst out into laughter and after she had caught her breath again, Anne said:

"Damn, I missed your humor."

"I know," I said.

Jack corrected me, "I think she meant my humor. We all know who's got the best sense of humor here."

"I meant both yours and Lawrence's", Anne explained and looked at me before suggesting, "Let's take a walk."

"A walk, a ride or a flight?" I asked and winked.

"All three?" She said and chuckled along with me.

"You heard her," I said to Jack, announcing that I was going out with Anne. "Women... And you toddlers watch what you are doing while we're away, OK? I don't want any bled-out mortal girls nor abused male vampires when I get back."

"Sure," Hillary said and put her head on Jack's shoulder. In the next moment, I picked Anne up in my arms and flew out with her. I put her in the passenger's seat of the Mercedes and as the engine revved to life after I turned the key in the ignition, I asked:

"Where you wanna go, sugar?"

"Your apartment..."

"Oh. No problem. Fasten your seat belt," I said and drove to the parking lot of the building which held my old apartment.

"What's new in your life? You haven't told me anything since I arrived."

"Well, we were too busy so I couldn't tell you, right? But nothing special."

"Yes, you had to make out with me and try to abuse me."

"Abuse you? I don't think I did anything against your will," she said and as I stopped in the parking lot, she pushed herself out of her seat and found a place on my lap. When she settled herself there, I held her bottom and said before kissing her in a way that made us both gasp for air:

"Oh, no... We've got the same interest here."

Of course, we ended up in my old room and had sex there just like the first time. When I was lying down with my head on her chest afterwards, she said:

"I want one last thing from you tonight."

I raised my head to look at her and asked:

"What would that be?"

She gathered her hair and put it all to one side, freeing the right side of her neck for me before answering:

"Bite me, please."

I raised myself up on my arms as if I was doing a push-up and while holding myself over her, I answered:

"No."

"Would you care to tell me why? You still think it's too dangerous? You think I'll become anemic?" She demanded.

I sat back next to her and answered:

"No, I don't think any of those things. I just think that you're getting too much like Sookie Stackhouse. Every time we have sex, you ask me to bite you. Does that really turn you on so much?"

"Well, go figure," she said and before I knew it, she was once again sitting on me naked, the same way as in the Mercedes, and I could see the dirty look in her eyes.

I chuckled deeply before saying:

"You're not going to let it go until I do it, are you?"

She waved my question off with her head and I asked:

"What's so good about my bite? I really, really don't get it."

"Um...It's so dangerous and so attractive at the same time, just like you. I know that you can finish me off if you want, but I know that you won't. And the bite, it hurts only the first few seconds, but then it feels like the best kiss on the neck. Like this..." she explained and started kissing my neck, tracing it with her lips and nuzzling on it.

"I understand you now," I said and sighed, feeling that I was getting horny again.

"Come on then, please me," she said, curving her neck out to me and shifting herself on me. In the next moment, my fangs popped out and I grazed the delicate skin on Anne's neck. The first two drops slid out from the wounds right into my mouth and I started sucking more blood out.

The next day, we spent most of our time at the apartment and somewhere around six PM, we dressed and I drove her home. Jack was already there, ready and waiting for me to pick him up and head towards the VAPA's HQ. At the agreed time, we were in Rennes, ready to continue with our work.


	31. Revenge

_**A/N:**____Hi__ya__all!__Here__comes__the__update!__Are__you__looking__forward__to__a__badass__chapter__with__a__bloody__ending?__Good,__here__it__is;__enjoy__reading__and__review!__;)_

**31.****Revenge**

"You know, after spending time with Hillary the idea of quitting this job came across my mind," I said to Lawrence, while leaning back in the passenger seat of his Mercedes comfortably. He was driving us towards the HQ and we were about two miles away.

"Really?" He asked casually before glancing in the rear window and steering into the right highway lane. I could tell that he was still under the impression of seeing Anne. He was too distant, acting like a pathetic mortal. I continued talking:

"I mean, it will be hard if we won't be getting any more days off like yesterday. I will miss Hillary, and you'll..."

"I will practically crave Anne's company, yes. I know what you mean," he said.

"But you don't think about quitting, do you?" I asked him and played with the bracelet around my wrist, rolling it around out of boredom and observing the two little LED lights: one for the GPS signal and the other one for the implemented electro shocker.

"No, I don't," he said before shifting down and turning right to drive through the final area before HQ. "I want mortality too much to just quit."

"Yes, I guess that's how it is. I mean, you've been a vampire for 220 years and you're fed up with it," I sighed. "I, on the other hand, haven't been one for even a century."

"So, you want to stay a vampire?" He asked me and cast a side-glance towards me. "Remember, Hillary is only four years younger than you. If you decide to stay immortal, she'll outgrow you."

"That's not a problem. I mean, she won't if I..." I mentioned but then decided not to say anything more. Too bad, Lawrence knew exactly what I was going to say and he ended my sentence:

"...turn her into a vampire?"

"Yes." I admitted.

"Have you asked her what she wants?"

"Um...No. I will, though," I answered. "And Anne, has she considered becoming a vamp?"

"She doesn't want it, not with the antidote existing."

"That's for the best, I think. You two deserve to be mortal, to marry and have kids...To live happily ever after."

"Oh, would you shut up?" He asked, chuckled and waved off with his head, concentrating on the road. I just chuckled back and then I remembered something that I wanted to ask:

"Hey, did Gillianson say anything to you about our life after the retransformation, I mean about possible work outside VAPA?"

"He didn't say anything," he answered. "We can go and ask him one day if you want."

"Yes, I do," I answered and then asked, "Did you even think about that? I mean, if we turn back into mortals, we won't..."

"...be invulnerable as we are now and like that, we'll be in mortal danger if we remain hunters. I know," he said. "My first choice for a new career would be law, but my progress in college from 1789 isn't valid anymore. Everything has changed, including the law."

"Yeah, that's a bummer," I commented as he parked the car in the parking lot in front of HQ.

"Here we are," he said indifferently and continued in a sarcastic way, "Home, sweet home."

We stepped out of the car and walked away from it as Lawrence locked it remotely. I said:

"I wonder where Boss will send us tonight."

"Well, I can say I'm sick and tired of his beloved Paris."

"I couldn't agree more," I said. "Let's hope we'll be sent wherever we want to next."

"Let's," Lawrence said and we walked through the entrance of HQ. VAPA's HQ itself was a six story building with an office supplies shop on the ground level and no other visible signs indicating what was going on up on the higher stories.

The shop was the main source of funds for the Association, along with the dead vampires' property that hunters claimed. The third source was Gillianson's bank account, holding more than enough money for about ten years of VAPA's work, as we were told by our hunter colleagues.

The entrance of HQ was on the rear side of the huge building with a dark blue façade. We walked through the door, walked up the narrow staircase and stood before the security entrance. After standing in front of the retinal scan device briefly and looking straight into the scanner, the door opened for us.

The lobby held nothing more than a few black sofas, along with some greenery in flowerpots and a few waste bins. Right across from the entrance there was an info stand, with a young, geeky mortal working there, called Sam. I waved at him and Lawrence just walked towards the elevator and punched the button.

"You're so polite, mate," I said sarcastically.

"Buzz off," he said simply and entered the elevator as the door opened. As I followed, I threatened goofily:

"I'll tell Anne how rude you are."

After I pushed the button for the sixth floor, he answered:

"You're starting to annoy me."

"This building really bugs you," I commented. He had been just as cranky on the first days of work two and a half months ago.

"You got that right," he answered and leaned against the elevator's wall as it slowly went up to the floor that held the hunters' rooms.

. . .

The freaking slow elevator finally came up to the sixth floor and let Jack and me out. As we walked towards the hall on the left that led to the male hunters' rooms, I called back to him:

"Get dressed and meet me in fifteen minutes in front of the elevator. Then we go to Gillianson's office, 'k?"

"OK," he accepted and I heard him entering his room, labeled with the number five. I walked to the end of the hall and entered room number seven. I flipped the light on as I walked in and kicked my boots off after slamming the door shut. I eyed the depressing room, which held only a plain bed, nightstand, closet and windows covered with thick black blinds, realizing that I missed my old room. I sighed and went to the bathroom to wash myself before going out on a night shift.

Exactly fifteen minutes later, I exited the room and met Jack near the elevator. We had both changed into a clean set of our hunter uniforms. They weren't anything special, just a pair of black slacks and a black button-up shirt. As the elevator doors swept open, Pauline came striding out.

"Hi guys," she said as she passed us by. She always did so, although we never said anything in return. I guess she just wanted to make friends. Well, too bad, because I really had no intention of getting along with her. Not after the hell Anne endured because of her and the other French scumbag, Dastan.

We went to Gillianson's office and when we entered he was on the phone, talking French with someone. As he noticed Jack and me, he motioned us to take a seat and wait a bit. After maybe five minutes of his talk, he finally hung up and asked:

"So, fellas..." Fellas? You've got to be kidding me. Was he a freaking Italian or was he just having a good day when he called us such lame names. I face palmed briefly and he continued, "How was it in London with your girls?"

"Very good, thank you for the day off. We hope we'll get more of those," Jack blabbed.

"You probably will," Gillianson told us. "Right now, you're the most proficient hunters here, with an average monthly number of exterminated vampires around 50. I wonder where you manage to find them all... With this kind of progress, the Association will soon have no reason to exist anymore."

"We know how a vampires' mind works and where they prefer to hang around, that's how we find them," I explained.

"That's what I thought," he answered and as he put his glasses on, he announced, "Because of that, I'm going to allow you to go and hunt wherever you want. Do you have any ideas where to go?"

Jack looked at me and said:

"You decide, L."

I thought for a while. London would be the logical answer, but to be so close to Anne without the permission to go to her would bother me too much. The next logical answer was more reasonable, though, despite the nostalgia which was still present after the 221 years of my existence. I said automatically:

"Cardiff."

. . .

I knew that something big was going to happen during our work trip to Lawrence's hometown. It was a sort of a premonition and after the later events I even doubted that I wasn't some kind of psychic. Of course, that wasn't true. I just had a hunch.

As we flew towards Cardiff, I asked Lawrence:

"Hey, are you sure about this? I remember how you spoke about your life here. Are you sure that you won't break down?"

"Don't talk crap," he just answered. "I'm here only because I still feel certain responsibility towards this town, towards the people here who might be the far descendants of my dead friends and family."

"Reasonable," I nodded and then he suddenly landed in some forest. I did the same, we walked out of it and I asked, "Where are we headed?"

"Let me just check something and then we go to the cemetery. I bet there will be a few bloodsuckers," he answered.

"No problem. Should I follow or stay here?" I asked.

"Whatever you want, I'm OK with both."

I decided to follow, remembering how I had never actually visited Cardiff. It was a nice town, with lots of old buildings and greenery, much friendlier than London. Although I already missed freaking London. All because of my black-haired angel.

Lawrence walked through the town and as he passed by a bunch of already-drunk teenage girls, which wasn't weird at all since it was half past midnight, he stopped, glanced around and called back to one girl, asking her:

"Hey, blondie?"

"Um...You mean me?" The tipsy girl answered.

"Yeah, you. I'm visiting my relative, could you tell me where the cemetery is located?" He asked.

"Well..." she said and pointed her finger behind Lawrence before saying, "Go to the third street on the right, then turn left on the crossroad and go all the way until you see the sign. Go in the direction of it and there you are."

"Thanks, sugar," Lawrence answered and we went along the street, following the path that the girl described.

"No problem, sweet butt!" The girl yelled at Lawrence and I burst out in laughter before saying:

"I'll call you butt boy from now on."

"You can try..." He said casually.

"Are we going straight to the cemetery?"

"We're not. We're turning right on the crossroad and not left. I just need to find my old house," he explained.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the place where the house was supposed to be. The house was gone, with only a vacant plot of land for sale.

"Are you sure we're at the right place?" I asked.

"I couldn't be wrong even if I wanted to," he answered dully. "Everything changed here. Just as I expected."

After a deep sigh, he said:

"Let's go to the cemetery."

When we got there, we started sneaking as we always did, trying to find some freaks hiding or even feeding from some mortal. We went through almost the whole cemetery when we spotted a black-haired woman holding her prey, a little girl, and feeding from her.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Lawrence said before he launched himself at the vamp.

. . .

I couldn't believe my eyes, but that didn't stop me from saving the little girl who was being ravaged by the same bitch who turned me into a vampire. I tore the girl out of her hands and tossed her to Jack, saying:

"Take care of the kid."

The same black-haired woman who had drained me in this same graveyard 221 years ago and then turned me into a vampire looked at me in wonder before saying:

"My child...I'm surprised to see that you're still alive."

"Well, it will be the last thing you'll ever see, you fucking bloodsucker. You ruined my fucking life and turned it into the existence of a miserable animal!" I yelled at her and gripped her hand before breaking it.

"You're an ungrateful brat, that's what you are!" She said and laughed menacingly. "You'll never be able to kill me. I am older and stronger than you!"

"Older? Yes. But stronger? I doubt it," I answered, feeling the rage overwhelming my whole body. "I've waited for this moment for so long, I've wanted my revenge so badly...And guess what? Revenge is best when served cold, so enjoy it, you bitch!"

After that last word I started fighting with her, and apparently I was the one who was stronger, fueled with anger. I was breaking her limbs one after another, enjoying it as I heard the bones cracking and saw blood running from the wounds, soaking the soil. I allowed the dark side of me to rule my actions with joy, growling deeply in satisfaction. Before the big finale, I pulled out the stake from my pocket and drove it through her heart, saying:

"Goodbye, freak!

When I was sure that she was dead as she lay lifelessly with her mouth gaping open and showing her fangs, I spat on her and took a picture of her, remembering that I had to send evidence back to HQ. I looked back at Jack who held the innocent, scared little girl. She struggled for her life.

"How is she?" I asked.

"Her pulse is too slow. She'll pass out soon if we don't do something, she lost a lot of blood."

"We're taking her to the local hospital. I will not turn a kid into a vampire and neither will you," I answered.

"OK. Let's go," Jack agreed and we flew off towards the hospital. Jack landed, ran to the reception desk and left the girl there before running out. We had already vanished as the nurses ran out, trying to find Jack after he brought the almost dead girl to the hospital. He asked, "Stupid question, but are you injured?"

"You're right, that is a stupid question," I said and sighed. "Even if I was, it would be worth it after killing my maker."

"How does it feel?"

"Indescribable," I answered. To know that I had gotten rid of the person who turned me into a monster was a great feeling. I knew that was one of the last things I had to do in order to welcome my mortality.


	32. Trick Or Treat?

_**A/N:**Hi people! Sorry I didn't update in such a long time, I completely forgot :D Here comes a Halloweenish chapter with a cliffhanger, I bet you'll like it :) Till next time, enjoy reading and review ;)_

**32. Trick Or Treat**

_Four years later, Halloween Friday_

I woke up around three PM, during daybreak, when I was supposed to be sleeping. The thing that woke me up was a cell phone ringing. My cell phone, which I left on the nightstand, so it was perfectly capable of ruining my ears with the aggressive metal song that was my ringtone. I stretched my hand out and answered the call without checking the caller ID:

"What?" I asked, sleepy and irritated. "Who's this?"

"It's Jack. Are we going to London tonight or not?" He asked, also with a sleepy yet excited voice.

"Of course we are. Did you get all the things that we need?" I asked.

"Yep, everything is ready for Halloween."

"You didn't say anything to Hillary, did you?" I checked.

"No. And did you blab anything to Anne?"

"Nope. I'll tell her now that we're coming," I said and yawned. "Hey, before you hang up - do you feel somehow... Freaky?"

"Hell yeah," he answered. "No wonder after the shit that we went through last night."

"Oh, good then. I thought it was just me."

"Nah," he replied. "Get ready and meet me in my room, OK?"

"K," I said and ended the call before heading to the bathroom to shower, wash my hair and shave.

After maybe twenty minutes, I came out with a towel around my waist and made a few last strokes through my half-dry hair with my fingers covered with some hair gel. After washing my hands, I texted Anne so that she could get ready:

_You and Hillary get ready to go to a Halloween party with Jack and me tonight. We'll pick you up at your house. P.S. By getting ready, I mean buying a costume. ;) _

I picked up a pair of denim jeans and a simple grey T-shirt to wear, put my black Converse All Stars on and exited the room after gathering my car keys, phone, fake ID and driver's license. After I knocked on Jack's door a few times, he opened it and let me in. He was still in his shorts and undershirt.

"Couldn't you dress yourself while you waited for me?" I asked.

"I still got the time. I just showered," he explained lazily and brushed his fingers through his wet hair. On his bed, there were two dark clothes' bags, one labeled with a white letter L and another with a letter J. I grinned and said:

"I always wanted to wear an outfit like this."

"Me too. To see how it is to look like good old Dracula," he answered and we chuckled. Each one of us opened our own bag and pulled the clothes out. We both ordered a tuxedo with a white shirt, narrow red tie and a black cloak with red lining.

"This is just as it should look," I said and tied the cloak around my neck to set it loose on my back.

"We've never dressed up as vampires on Halloween, have we?" Jack checked.

"Surprisingly, no," I answered and then glanced around, checking for the two other things that we needed for the upcoming night. I took in the catastrophic mess in the room and wondered how Jack could ever find what he needed.

"Looking for this?" he asked me as he pulled two ring-sized black boxes out of the nightstand drawer.

"Yes. When did you get them?" I asked.

"They delivered them this morning from Paris."

"Are they in the right sizes?" I wondered.

"I think so. I mean, we gave them the measures last week, so they have to fit," he reminded me.

"And the price?"

"Way too expensive for something that small, if you ask me," he answered. "But hey, they are worth it. The girls will be so surprised."

"I bet they will," I said and chuckled as we opened the boxes.

. . .

I was just leaving the college when I got the text from Lawrence. I read it, became so excited because he was coming to London and I texted him back:

_Can't wait to see you. OK, we'll get costumes. Love you._

I had a day off from work so I went straight home after classes and as I entered the house I called to Hillary, who was probably in the living room surfing the Internet or watching some TV show:

"Hey, Hillary! Guess who's coming tonight?"

She ran out to the hall to meet me and asked:

"Jack and Lawrence?"

"Yep," I said and we hugged each other, grinning like retards and jumping in place out of happiness. "And guess what, we're going to a Halloween party with them. We need to buy costumes."

"Cool!" she exclaimed. When she was ready, we went shopping at a specialized store. Most of the costumes were so childish, but you could find a mature one after some searching.

Quite quickly, Hillary chose a witch, with a typical big black hat. I, on the other hand was in doubt of what to choose. Actually, I lacked inspiration. I couldn't come up with an idea. A vampire costume was out of question because of the hideous artificial fangs. Lawrence would surely have a good laugh, along with Jack, when he saw those plastic canines. When I tried to speak with them in my mouth I would muffle like an idiot, so that was another flaw.

Other options were a witch, a fairy, a princess, a queen, Marilyn Monroe, a Playboy bunny, police officer and a nurse. I eliminated one after another costume in my head while Hillary bored herself with the wigs:

"A witch? No, Hillary chose that. Fairy? Hell no. Princess, queen? Princess no and queen only in poker, preferably coming with an ace, jack, king and ten, forming a straight. Marilyn Monroe? I don't like red lipstick or white dresses that aren't meant for wedding, so no. Playboy bunny? Too much like Bridget Jones. And too slutty. Nurse? Too slutty; although Lawrence wouldn't mind that. Hehe. But a cop? Hmm, maybe. I always wanted to wear a cop's uniform and carry a nightstick."

So, I bought the cop's uniform and headed back home with Hillary. We ate some lunch, washed the dishes and started preparing for the evening. That meant showering, washing hair, pedicure, manicure, blow dry, nail polish, preparing costumes and so on, all in order to make us look the best we could.

. . .

Just a bit before nine o'clock, we were entering Anne's block in the Mercedes. Lawrence was wearing his vampire outfit, just as I was.

"You nervous?" He asked me.

"Very."

"You worried about what their response will be?"

"Yep," I admitted and glanced through the window.

"Me too," he said as he parallel parked the car in front of Anne's house.

"Don't forget your little box," I told him and got out of the car, closing the door.

"I won't," he said and asked while checking his tie, "You've got the tickets for the club, don't you?"

"They are safe," I said and patted the inner pocket of my tuxedo.

"Good. And remember, don't blab anything before the end of the evening. And especially don't let Hillary see the box, OK?" He instructed me.

"OK," I said and raised an arm to give him a high five. "Now let's go."

"Yeah," he accepted as we walked towards Anne's front door. He rang the bell and Hillary opened the door, dressed up like a little witch.

"A vampire? Cool," she approved my costume.

"A witch?" I asked and turned her around her axis while holding her hand up. "I lo-ve it."

"I'm glad you do," she said and pecked me on the lips shyly. She was less shy when we were alone, though.

"Anne upstairs?" Lawrence asked her.

"Yep, still getting ready," Hillary answered as we walked inside and Lawrence went up the stairs.

. . .

I knocked on Anne's door a few times softly. She answered from inside:

"Come in."

When I walked inside, I saw her buttoning her police officer's blouse up in front of the mirror, dressed like a cop with all the details, even the hat and black Aviator sunglasses.

"Oh, my," I said and swallowed. "You look dashing, you know that?"

"Well, I guessed you would like it," she answered and turned around before taking my looks in, "Well, you aren't bad either, Count!"

I chuckled and stepped towards her to kiss her.

"It's cold outside, isn't it?" She asked as she went towards her wardrobe to decide what to wear, a jacket or a coat.

"Yes, quite cold," I said and she took her leather jacket from its hanger, saying to me:

"I don't care. I look better in a jacket than in a coat."

"You always look good. Very good," I complimented her.

"Thanks, sugar," she said and clapped my butt cheek with the nightstick that she was holding. "Let's go downstairs before our little witch enchants Jack."

I chuckled and did as she told me, saying obediently:

"Yes, officer."

We tumbled down the stairs lazily and soon left the house along with Jack and Hillary. I opened the back door on the left for Anne and Jack did the same with the right one for Hillary. We got in the Mercedes and I drove off in the direction of one of the best nightclubs in London, where the Halloween party to which we were headed was organized.

Maybe fifteen or twenty minutes later I parked the car behind the club and we all stepped out from it. As we walked towards the entrance, Anne asked me:

"I forgot to ask you; how did you get the driver's license?"

"It's fake. Gillianson took care of that, just as he did with the IDs for Jack and me," I explained and showed her our identifications. She observed them a bit and returned them to me with a smile while saying:

"Falsification is a crime, you know?"

"Sorry, officer; don't arrest me..." I said and stuck my tongue out at her before saying, "At least not before we return home."

At the entrance, we showed our tickets to the bouncers and went in. After drinking the welcoming glass of champagne, we went to the booth that we had reserved.

The atmosphere in the club was great, the music fast and catchy, drinks good and our company even better. We ordered a bottle of whiskey and as the waiter brought it to the table, Anne chuckled.

"Is this smart?" She asked and chuckled again. "Remember what happened last time when we drank Jack Daniels?"

"It hooked us up, yes," I said and laughed along with her. Jack and Hillary joined us and Jack commented:

"That was the night when Lawrence's life, or existence as he calls it, made a U turn."

"Pretty much," I agreed and poured the drinks for us four. We cheered and sipped the cold whiskey quickly. Hillary didn't particularly like it so Jack ordered a juice for her.

As I started drifting off thinking about the little box in my pocket, Anne tugged on my sleeve and said:

"Let's dance!"

"But I'm a terrible dancer..." I protested. Lied, actually, just because I haven't danced for a while.

"Yeah right," Jack mocked me. "Get up!"

I sighed, sipped another glass of whiskey and stood up saying to Anne, "Don't tell me I didn't warn you."

We went to the dance floor and started goofing around. We twirled around and chuckled as we listened to one of David Guetta's greatest hits and soon the music changed to something more slow, more romantic. I held Anne around her waist and she held her arms around my neck, her head on my shoulder. We danced more slowly, moving from one side to the other. She whispered in my ear:

"How long are you staying?"

"One day only," I said. "If the boss doesn't change his plans."

"Oh. Nice," she said and kissed my neck. "Remember, you're all mine when we get home."

"And you're all mine," I said and kissed her hair.

. . .

I glanced at my cell's display to check the time, squinting quite hard because the whiskey had me all tipsy and goofy. It was already half past two AM. I asked Lawrence, stuttering coincidentally:

"Are we going ho-home soon?"

"If Jack and Hillary agree," he said and looked at them. Jack nodded and Hillary just shrugged her shoulders. "OK then, let me and Jack hit the men's room and we're out of here."

Jack stood up and went after Lawrence towards the men's toilet. Hillary sat closer to me and said:

"This was great."

"Yep. Although I drank a bit too much," I said. I wasn't completely drunk but I knew that the next morning was going to be challenging, probably bringing a headache. After maybe ten minutes, our Draculas came back. They were grinning for some reason, as if they had the meanest plan in their heads.

"What are you up to, boys?" I asked them.

"What?" Jack asked, mumbling probably because he was quite drunk. "Absolutely nothing, we were just laughing at some idiot wearing a banana costume."

"That's funny," Hillary said and came close to Jack as we went out. Lawrence held me around my waist with one hand as we walked.

I unlocked the front door of my house when we finally arrived and we all went inside. I went towards the stairs automatically but Jack called to me:

"Anne, you don't want to miss this. Come to the living room."

"What? Why?" I was confused.

"Just do as he told you," Lawrence said and gestured to the sofa in the living room. Then he said to Hillary, "You too, kid."

We went to the sofa and sat down, anxious to see what this was all about. Jack cleared his throat and said:

"Well, now that you're sitting, we can do this." Then, he turned to Lawrence and asked him, "Lawrence?"

"Are you ready?" Lawrence asked and fought with the urge to burst out into laughter.

"Yep," Jack confirmed.

"Let's do this," Lawrence said confidently. I didn't know what to expect, seeing them performing in front of us maybe, but when both Lawrence and Jack pulled identical ring-sized boxes out of their tuxedo pockets, everything became clear. I gripped Hillary's left hand and I felt my breathing stop. I expected a proposal sooner or later, but it still caught me off guard.

But, wait. They didn't kneel in front of us, neither did they open the boxes to take the rings out and put them in the right place. No, instead of that they grinned, extended their fangs simultaneously and smiled at us. Everything seemed normal, the fangs looked as they always did, sharp and white as the rest of their teeth.

"Lawrence, what are you two doing?" I asked, slightly irritated but still anxious to see what they had in store for us girls. He didn't answer but gestured with his index finger for me to wait.

"3, 2, 1..." Jack counted theatrically and then both he and Lawrence reached with their fingers to their upper teeth, pulled out a white piece of some material similar to plastic and their extended fangs were gone. They opened the boxes, put the artificial fangs inside and Lawrence said proudly as they closed them:

"We were retransformed yesterday."

I couldn't believe my eyes or ears.


	33. Reborn

_**A/N:**Hi you all!_

_ First of all, I'm terribly sorry for keeping you wait so long for this chapter... It's not that it wasn't ready to be published; the reason is that I was very busy... Last week I finally passed the last exam of this year (weeeee!) so I don't have to study until January :) Which means more time for writing! ^^_

_ The second reason is that my Facebook account has been hacked, just like both of my mail accounts... I was forced to open a new profile on FB and a new mail account, add my old friends and explain everything to them since I couldn't do anything to regain control over my lost accounts because the hacker had changed the passwords and the security questions :(_

_ But thank God - the hacker didn't manage to hack my FanFiction profile and didn't mess my stories up... However, I hope I'll find a way to get my accounts back after all :/ One advice to you all as I wish no one else to get into a situation like this - be very careful where you enter your usernames/mails and passwords... Always check the address bar and make sure the address isn't weird; make sure it's really and not something random..._

_ I don't know if I mentioned it until now, but I have officially finished this story and in total it has 37 chapters. And I started something new, vampires nonrelated, but still about supernatural creatures... I like the idea that I have, I only hope I'll be able to keep writing. And the other story, 'Meant For Each Other', is stalling right now. Zero inspiration, zero clue about what I want to happen next in the story..._

_Sorry for the terribly long A/N, enjoy the chapter and review :) Bye bye :)_

_**P.S.** just a brief reply to the review saying that Anne and Hillary should be unhappy about Lawrence and Jack getting mortal... No they shouldn't... After all the guys wanted it so bad and if they're happy, so are the girls cause when you love someone, you're happy when he/she is happy._

**33. Reborn**

I watched how Anne and Hillary opened their mouths after Jack and I took out the fake vampire fangs. Anne stood before me while Hillary was still plainly confused, trying to believe what she saw. Jack sat next to her and hugged her as a few tears streamed down her face.

Anne observed the fangs that I had worn earlier and asked:

"How could you extend them so naturally?"

"They are retractable," I explained. "All you have to do is trigger the mechanism with your tongue."

She sighed, put the box down and admitted:

"Honestly, I expected a proposal, but you surprised me so much with this."

"I'm sorry we played around with you girls, that was the deal between Jack and me," I said and held her around the waist.

"And whose idea was this?" she wondered.

"Guess," I said and chuckled.

"Just as I thought," she said and chuckled, too. Then she stroked my cheek and noticed, "You're warm."

"Yep. I was afraid you would notice that and figure out that I had re-transformed."

"I didn't notice anything. I was drunk. I still am," she said and sighed before asking, "Are you hungry?"

"Only for you," I whispered near her ear. "But we'll take care of that later, won't we?"

We kissed and when we turned around Jack and Hilary were standing up and holding each other hands. Hilary said:

"We're going upstairs. ' Night, guys."

"'Night," I said while Anne smiled to her and Jack, probably happy for them. When we were left alone in the living room, she asked me:

"Seriously, do you want a snack? Did you eat anything today?"

"Yes, Jack and I stopped at a diner in a gas station on our way here and ate our late lunch," I answered.

"And what did you eat?" she asked enthusiastically.

"Um...Scrambled eggs, bacon, French fries, pancakes..." I counted in my head. "You should've seen us there eating like maniacs."

"Try not to get fat..." she said and chuckled.

"Why? Would you dump me then?" I joked.

"Well, if you turn into a gigantic sack of grease, I surely will."

"You won't see that happen," I said and we chuckled together. After glancing briefly at the wall clock, I asked her, "Is it curfew time, maybe?"

"Sort of..." she answered and we went up the stairs lazily. When we entered, she started undressing and getting into her PJ's .

"Got anything for me to wear?" I wondered.

"You've got your underwear."

"You're mean," I said and pouted my lower lip jokingly. "I can feel the cold now, you know?"

"I'll warm you up," she said and winked.

"Can't wait," I said and grinned while taking my clothes off. We lay down in her bed, facing each other.

"Can you tell me what happened yesterday?" She asked me.

"About the retransformation?"

"Yes."

"Sure..." I agreed and started speaking.

. . .

So...We weren't working yesterday, that was in Gillianson's plan for us. He sent us to the fifth floor of the HQ, the only floor that had restricted access. The purpose of that floor was to hold the laboratory, the 'woodshop' and the retransformation chambers. In the lab, five chemists regularly produced the antidote and sedatives when needed while the wooden bullets and stakes were produced in the 'woodshop'. At the far end of the hall on the right, there were two retransformation rooms, which were soundproof.

While we waited for the staff member to come and lead us into our rooms, Jack asked me:

"Did they tell you the same thing about the job? That you can work wherever you want, you just have to attain the required qualifications by yourself?"

"Yes, they said the same thing to me," I answered and started tapping my foot against the floor out of nervousness.

"Good for you, you started going to college three years ago," he commented.

"Yes, I'll finally become a lawyer in two years."

"What will you do in the meantime?" he asked.

"Well, Anne forbade me to work as a slayer after turning back mortal. So I'll be a clerk in the woodshop here."

"No shit? I decided that too!" he said.

"Good, then we'll remain colleagues!"

"Sweet!" He grinned and we nodded in unison. Right at that moment, a tall guy with a nametag that read Pierre walked over holding a card key and unlocked both rooms. He said:

"Each one of you take your own room."

Jack took the right one and I took the left. He raised his finger and said:

"Before we do this, I just want to say thanks for the past fifty years, mate."

"I want to thank you too, Jack. Having you for a friend was and still is great."

Pierre cleared his throat in a sign of impatience. So, Jack entered his room and I did the same with mine.

What I saw inside wasn't pleasant. The room was of a kind that could drive you insane just by looking at it. It held nothing. Absolutely _nothing_. Not a single piece of furniture, no windows, even the light sources were implemented in the ceiling as in elevators, put above a thick ply of white glass. The wall color was the plainest white it could be and the carpet was a depressing shade of grey.

I sighed and muttered angrily:

"This is just great."

The room was going to drive me crazy before the end of the retransformation. Just as I thought about that, Pierre walked in holding a syringe filled with transparent light blue fluid in his hand.

"Hey, can I at least get a chair?" I asked him, gesturing my hand around the room to make him notice the emptiness.

"I'm sorry but no. Vampires who go through this process always break all the things around them so it's too expensive for the Association," he answered and shrugged his shoulders. I remembered how I acted during my transformation and I nodded, realizing that he was right.

"OK then," I said.

"Are you ready?" he asked me and stepped towards me, kind of hesitant. I guess that was because Jack and I were known as VAPA's most efficient and most dangerous employees. That status was going to change really soon. We were going to become average mortals instead of powerful vampires. He instructed me, "Tilt your head to the side."

"Sure," I answered and did so as he instructed me:

"When it's all over, knock on the door for me to let you out."

I nodded and then he injected the antidote into my neck, left the room and locked the door from the outside.

I could already feel the strange feeling inside, as a consequence of the antidote running through my blood system. I sat down on the floor and waited for the _show_ to begin.

I knew exactly what to expect, what was ahead of me. The retransformation was going to begin with the most agonizing pain I could even think of and from there, the pain level was going to decrease gradually. It had to start increasing first, though.

I counted the time in my head and after maybe five or six minutes, I curled in suffering as a sudden wave of excruciating pain washed over my body like it was the highest possible voltage current. I yelled and screamed like I was being cut with hundreds of knives and I gripped my head constantly, the first part of my body where the pain stayed a while.

Once again, it hurt like hell; my teeth were grinding against each other like mad while I squeezed my temples harshly and felt like someone had lit up a fire inside my skull.

Gradually and too slowly, the pain travelled through my whole body, just like when I was transformed into a vampire but in reverse. Again, my abdomen hurt the most. The feeling was as if I was hit by a truck or two to get all the bones broken, then thrown into a big fireplace to burn to ashes, reincarnating and going through the whole process over and over again. I felt like my organs were wrestling and colliding with my ribs and other bones, trying to kick each other out.

After I don't know how much time, the pain finally turned into a more pleasant itching which made my fingers scratch all the surfaces of my body. When that sensation stopped, I stood up from the floor and almost fell back down, having almost no balance at all. I could tell the difference; I could see that I was mortal once again. My eyesight was worse than it had been a few hours ago. I couldn't extend my fangs anymore and flying was once again an abstract notion, not possible to pull off on your own except in a plane, helicopter or something like that.

I walked over to the door, knocked a few times and was let out. Pierre told me to go to my room and so I did. On the nightstand there was a plate with a ham sandwich and a carton of juice. I was kind of hungry but first I had to take a shower and wash all the sweat off of me. I stepped into the shower long enough to get clean, and stepped out to go to sleep.

Before falling asleep, I ate the aforementioned sandwich and gulped down the juice from the carton, anxious for the next day to come.

. . .

"Oh my God. To feel the same pain again..." Anne said, covered her mouth and looked at me with her eyes wide open. "I'm in awe of you."

"At least I knew exactly what to expect, unlike when I was turned," I said and sighed, "And it was worth the pain."

She nodded and then asked:

"When are you coming back to London?"

"You heard - I'll work in VAPA's woodshop, finish college in Paris and then come back here. That will be in two years."

"So, how is it at college?"

"So far so good," I said. "I failed only one exam, the rest of them were easy." "Smartie..." she said, chuckled and pushed herself up on me. We kissed and made love for the first time after my retransformation.

. . .

Jack and I were sitting in the half dark of Anne's father's room, with only the light on the nightstand turned on. He was sitting in the armchair and I was sitting across his lap, with my right hand around his shoulders and the left one intertwined with his right. He was holding me around my back and stroking it every now and then. I was still gathering my thoughts after he told me everything about the retransformation.

"Why are you so silent?" he asked me and went up my spine with the tips of his fingers. I waved off with my head and answered:

"I guess I wasn't ready for this. I'm still getting used to the fact that you're mortal."

"Will you miss the vampire Jack?" he asked and chuckled.

"Only if you will," I said simply. I didn't particularly care about his mortality or immortality. I cared only about what he was like and he was the best guy that I knew, the first one who got through to my heart.

"I won't. I waited for this so long," he said with his lips on my hair. "So, did you have fun today?"

"Yes. More importantly, you're here now and I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," he told me and pulled me into a kiss. When his lips parted from mine he asked me, "Have I ever told you how much sense you brought into my life?"

"No, you haven't," I said and relaxed against him to listen to his words. Although I knew what he felt for me, it just felt good to hear it coming from his mouth.

"Before you I had nothing to look forward to, nothing to be happy about, and no one to care about..." he said. " You changed me, Hillary."

"It was the same for me, Jack," I answered sincerely. "I love you."

"I love you too, angel," he said and kissed me once again, as perfectly as each time before.

"What will we do now?" I asked, the question appeared in my head out of nowhere. "We can't stay with Anne and Lawrence forever, I mean they surely want to be alone."

"I'll have to talk to Lawrence about that," he answered. "We'll probably get rid of our shitty apartment, share the money and then I will be able to come up with something."

"Oh. OK," I nodded.

"I didn't ask you, where you want to live?" he asked.

"I want to stay here in London. It's a nice city, Anne and Lawrence are our only friends and no one here is on the lookout for me."

"You mean your father?"

"Yes," I said and he held me more firmly, knowing that it wasn't easy at all for me to think about the man who did me so much harm.

"About that..." he said and suddenly stood up, leaving me alone in the armchair.

"What?" I asked, confused by the way he acted. He walked towards the wall, put both his hands on it turned away from me and sighed deeply. It looked like he was nervous. "Jack, what's wrong?"

"I thought I could keep hiding this from you but I can't. Not anymore."

"Hiding what from me?" I asked and stood up. After turning to me, he said:

"Peter Rowenthal is dead."

He looked at me with guilt on his face, determining my reaction. I could tell that my face was completely blank, emotionless.

"I killed him," he added. "I thought you saw the Dublin news on TV."

I kept silent. Jack breathed in deep and urged me:

"Please say something. Your silence is killing me."

I bit my lower lip and thought about what he had just said.

"When?" I asked curtly.

"Two days ago. I wanted..." He ran out of words and stroked his temples with his fingers before continuing, "I wanted peace for us. For _you._I don't want you to hide from anyone, especially not from that bastard. So I went to Dublin and I did it on impulse. It was the last thing I had to do before turning back mortal."

The fact that the man who practically ruined my life was gone was hard to believe. I sat back down in the armchair.

"You have every right to hate me, to punch me, to yell at me. I'll understand." Jack said, still from the other side of the room.

"I can't hate you. I love you, Jack; you know that," I answered.

"Yes, but if this murder is too much, I can understand. I know you hated him, but if I crossed the line, tell me," he said.

"I'm just sorry that you got your hands dirty because of me. I told you he's already dead in my head," I explained. I didn't feel any sadness about my father's death. He didn't deserve any, not after everything I went through because of him. "I don't hate you because of what you've done."

"OK then," he said and nodded.

"How did you do it?" I asked.

"You really want the details?" he asked.

"Can't you tell me?"

"There's not much to tell. I asked for some free time at work, flew to Dublin and into the Rowenthal manor at night, jumped him, said a few words and finished him off."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him that I was going to kill him although death was too kind for him because of everything that he ever did to you and I told him that you're happy now, just like you deserve to be," he recalled.

I could only try to imagine my father's reaction at that moment. The fact that I found someone to be happy with and started a new life after running away must've been hard to believe for him. He never wanted to see me happy.

The person standing a few feet away from me, on the other hand, wanted to see me smiling every day, to enjoy life and all its good things. My Jack. I stood up and walked over to him.

"Please, don't do stupid things anymore, OK?" I asked him and hugged him. "At least not without letting me know."

"I won't," he promised and hugged me firmly.


	34. To Have And To Hold

_**A/N:**A quick update this time! :)_

_You all know I'm very romantic and all... But this chapter is the most romantic chapter in this story... Here happens something we've been all waiting for, here starts a new life of Anne and Lawrence... I'm not spoiling anything for you so just start reading! :) I hope you'll like it and give me a review to tell me your opinion... Bye now :)_

**34. To Have And To Hold**

It was June 17, Saturday. The first day of the rest of my life next to Lawrence. Our wedding day.

Lawrence had proposed two years ago on the day he graduated from law school. We went out for a romantic dinner at a restaurant in Paris to celebrate and later went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Just when I least expected it, Lawrence kneeled down in front of me, with an opened ring box in his hand. It held a white gold ring with an emerald. He started talking:

"Do you remember the day when you became my girlfriend?"

I nodded and felt a happy tear stream down my cheek.

"I wouldn't forget even if I could," I answered.

"That night I realized that I was in love with you. I realized that I couldn't go on without you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Anne."

He took the ring out of the box and said before asking for my hand:

"This jewel reminded me of what you wore that night. Love, will you marry me?"

I smiled, wept and answered instantly, knowing that he was the one I wanted:

"Yes. Yes, yes, yes!"

He smiled widely as he held my left hand, put the ring on my finger and stood up before kissing me and raising me up in his arms.

I sighed deeply, trying to calm down and ignore the nervousness that I felt, knowing what was going to happen today. In my room, Stacie and Hillary were helping me with the dress, hair and make-up. They were both my maids of honor because I couldn't choose only one of them, that's how close we had become. I was sitting patiently as Hillary did my hair and skillfully arranged my veil; she had officially become a hairdresser after finishing beauty school two years ago. I asked Stacie as she finished doing the French manicure on my nails:

"When is the limo coming?"

"Er... I think at five o'clock," she answered and put the nail polish aside. "That's in an hour and a half."

"Is everything ready?" I asked and chewed on my nails mentally, way too nervous thinking about the ceremony.

"Don't worry, everything is taken care of. The wedding planner did her best," Hillary mused and reached for some hairpins. "On the other hand, do you have something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue?"

"Um... New dress and shoes, borrowed earrings, old mascara and a white garter with blue details. All ready," I answered with a content smile.

"Did you hear from Lawrence?" Stacie asked me.

"Yep, yesterday," I answered.

"Aren't you two old-fashioned? I mean, no seeing each other before the wedding?" she wondered.

"We last saw each other on Thursday."

"And the abstinence?" Hillary asked and chuckled.

"You are naughty," I said and chuckled back. "But no, we haven't had sex for a week."

"OMG...That must have been hard, especially with the sparks that fly around you two," Stacie said and I blushed.

"You're going to ravage him on the honeymoon," Hillary noted and winked at me. "Poor Lawrence..."

"Poor me, not him!" I said and smiled widely.

. . .

"Waiter, one more, please!" I said to the bartender and tapped my fingers against the counter while I waited to get a refill. I was in a bar just a few minutes away from the church where I was supposed to marry Anne. On my right side, there was Jack, my best man, and on my left, there was Georg, my future father-in-law.

"One for me too..." Georg ordered another drink too and then looked at me. "Don't worry, a wedding is not as scary as it seems. I've been through it, I know."

I chuckled and answered, "Thanks, sir."

The waiter placed two shots of whiskey in front of us and I gulped mine down.

"That's enough, L. You don't want Anne to have to carry you out of the church, do you?" Jack asked and chuckled.

"You're right," I nodded and asked him, "Are the rings with you?"

"Yep," he said and tapped the inner pocket of his dark grey tuxedo. Georg lit up his cigarette with a black Zippo lighter, sucked in some smoke and asked me:

"How is work going? What's with that office you mentioned last time we met?"

I played with the empty glass in front of me and answered after considering my reply carefully - I still didn't have my own office as he expected:

"Well, there were some complications so I decided to work for another lawyer for a while."

"Oh," he answered and nodded. I was relieved because he didn't ask any questions about the _complications_. "Start your own business as soon as you can, though. It's always better to keep all the money for yourself and your family than to share it with your boss."

"Yeah, I know. I'll start it as soon as I can," I answered. Just as I glanced around the bar, Jack's cell rang. He picked it up from the counter and answered:

"Yep?"

He waited for a while to hear the response.

"Nah... He doesn't have cold feet; now do you, Lawrence?" He asked me and I waved him off. Jack continued talking into the phone, "Sure. Don't worry. Say _hi_ to Anne from us guys. Bye."

He ended the call and said:

"Hillary, just checking how are the things going."

Georg finished his cigarette, lifted his sleeve up to see the time and said:

"I think I should get going. I don't want to be late because of the traffic."

"Sure. Drive safely," I said and he left. Jack asked me:

"So, how is it to be a groom?"

"I don't know, how is it to be the best man?"

"It's great," he said and nodded. "How is my tie standing?"

"Good. And mine?"

"Perfect."

. . .

The remaining time before going to the church just flew by. Just getting me into the tremendous dress without ruining it took a lot of time. Thank God, I had the girls to help me. When I was finally dressed, along with the veil, shoes and round white roses and ivy bouquet, it looked just as I had imagined it would. Hillary and Stacie smiled.

"All set and ready for the wedding!" Stacie said with a grin on her face.

"You look like a princess," Hillary complimented me.

"Thank you," I said and bowed theatrically. "Your outfits are awesome, girls!"

"Oh, once again - thanks for NOT making us wear the same dresses in some hideous color like lavender, peach or kiwi," Stacie exclaimed. She wore a dark purple dress, which looked awesome on her, and Hillary had decided on a denim blue dress, which fit her perfectly. Stacie had silver high heel sandals and Hillary's choice fell on simple black peep toe stilettos. Stacie had her dark red hair arranged in loose curls and Hillary had simply straightened her shiny black hair.

Soon, there was a knock on my door. Stacie went to the door, opened it slightly to check who was knocking and then let Georg inside. Hillary followed Stacie out and closed the door.

Georg stopped, eyed me for a moment and said with a hand on his heart:

"Sweetie, you're a vision!"

"Thanks!" I said and we hugged.

"So my baby girl Anne is finally getting married. I must say, the groom is very nervous," he commented.

"What?" I asked and smiled. "My Lawrence? Nervous?"

"I guess the whiskey calmed him down," he said.

"It's a good thing he doesn't get drunk easily," I said and chuckled.

"I think it's time to get this show on the road if we don't want to be late," Georg announced.

"Is everything ready in the church and the restaurant?" I worried.

"Yes, for the hundredth time; everything will be just perfect! Stop worrying!" he told me encouragingly.

"OK then, let's go." I sighed and we left my room.

Twenty minutes after, we were in the limousine, driving towards the church. Stacie and Hillary followed us in Stacie's Mini Cooper.

"Hey, dad?" I asked nervously.

"What is it?"

"Is it normal to be this nervous on your wedding day?"

"Perfectly normal. If you weren't nervous, I would be worried."

"OK then," I grinned.

. . .

I was so nervous - more insecure than I had ever felt in my entire life. I knew Anne was the one for me and I couldn't wait for her to walk down the aisle and stand beside me. Jack elbowed me on the ribs slightly and said:

"Wake up!"

I chuckled and said, "I'm not sleeping. I'm thinking."

"Oh, so you can do that?" he asked and we laughed. His attempt to make me less nervous worked. If I gave him a coin for every time I laughed at his jokes, he would already be a millionaire.

"Incoming," the guy standing next to Jack said excitedly. It was Joshua, Anne's best friend's boyfriend and my second best man. I glanced towards the doorway where Hillary and Stacie were entering, looking classy in their gowns. They stopped on the opposite side of Jack and Joshua, to my left side.

"Sugar, you look like a billion of dollars!" Joshua said to Stacie while Jack simply winked at Hillary, who smiled warmly at his gesture and sent him an air kiss.

The atmosphere in the church silenced and the ceremonial music began. All the guests stood up and turned around to face the far end of the aisle, waiting for Anne and Georg to walk towards me. After maybe three more chords, they finally appeared around the corner and started walking down the aisle.

Anne left me speechless. The way her white dress swayed as she walked slowly, the way she was looking at me through the transparent veil; everything was beyond beautiful. The song finally came to its end and Georg walked over with Anne, placed her hand in mine and went to sit down in the first row. I lifted Anne's veil carefully and smiled before kissing her cheek. Her eyes glowed like two brown jewels. I held her right hand and we turned towards the priest.

"We are gathered here today to join these two young people, Anne Crockwall and Lawrence Hashbury, in holy matrimony before God," he said.

I squeezed Anne's hand gently to remember she was there with me. Everything just felt so surreal.

"If there's anyone against this holy matrimony, he may speak now or never again," the priest said and waited for a few moments. No one spoke.

"Do we have the rings?" the priest asked. Jack stepped forward, took the rings out from his pocket and put them on the altar before us. The priest said:

"We'll start with the vows now. Anne, repeat after me: _I,__Anne,__take__you,__Lawrence..._"

"I, Anne, take you, Lawrence..." Anne repeated with a calm, moderate loud voice and smiled at me. The rest of the vows barely caught my attention, until I heard Anne's voice:

"In the presence of God I make this vow."

"Put the ring on groom's finger now and say: _I,__Anne,__give__you,__Lawrence,__this__ring__as__the__symbol__of__my__love__and__commitment,"_ the priest said and Anne took my left hand, put the ring on my ring finger and let my hand loose after finishing her line:

"I, Anne, give you, Lawrence, this ring as the symbol of my love and commitment."

"Lawrence, repeat after me," the priest told me and I went through the vows just like Anne before me and ended them with the same:

"In the presence of God I make this vow."

"Put the ring on bride's finger and say: _I,__Lawrence,__give__you,__Anne,__this__ring__as__the__symbol__of__my__love__and__commitment."_

I took Anne's hand gently, looked her straight in the eyes and spoke slowly as I was putting the ring to its place:

"I, Lawrence, give you, Anne, this ring as the symbol of my love and commitment."

"Mr. Hashbury you may now kiss your wife," the priest announced.

I turned to Anne, held her chin and we kissed briefly. When we parted our lips, the priest said the final words:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to present to you for the very first time Mr. and Mrs. Hashbury."

Behind us, there was an applause. Stacie and Joshua stepped out of their places, held each other's hands and began walking towards the exit. Hillary and Jack did the same afterwards. Anne and I followed them out.

In front of the church gate, Anne and I tried to stand still as colorful paper confetti rained down around us and Georg took photographs. The limo was waiting to take us to the restaurant so we walked towards it. Anne held on to my hand tightly and asked me with a chuckle:

"Were you as nervous as I was?"

"Even more," I said and smiled.

When we sat down in the limo before shutting the door, I kissed her briefly and told her:

"I forgot to tell you how beautiful you look like today, ."

"You're easy on the eyes too, mister," she said and winked at me. Just then, we got going.


	35. To Love And To Cherish

_**A/N:**Hi!_

_I see you liked the previous chapter and I'm very pleased because of that... Thanks for all the compliments, they've created warmness around my heart :D So I'll just leave you to dig into this one, wedding chapter number 2. If you liked the last one, you'll like this one even more :) Have fun and review, of course ;* And remember, there are two more fantastic chapters ahead of you and I believe they will knock you off your feet :)_

**35. To Love And To Cherish**

The tedious part of our celebration was just about to begin. Lawrence and I had to meet almost all of the Isaksson family, the family of my foster-father Georg. I didn't know most of them so it was definitely going to be long and exhausting. The Isakssons were confused when they realized that there was no one belonging to Lawrence's family, but the two of us came up with a story that he was an orphan and there were no further questions, only kindhearted glances at Lawrence.

Maybe half an hour later, we were finally done with the Isakssons, so the Crockwalls and Padgetsons were on turn. There was my aunt (my mother's sister) from Australia with her husband and kids, then my father's cousin from Scotland with his fiancée and at last, my father's mother from Scotland. Meeting the members of my original family was touching and I needed some time to settle down after they went back to sit at their tables. Lawrence stroked my back and asked me:

"Are you OK?"

"Yes, it's just that I haven't seen them for such a long time."

"I know what's it like," he said and hugged me briefly. Just at that moment, Jack stood up, ticked his fork against his half full wine glass and cleared his throat before saying:

"A toast for my best friends!"

Everyone went silent, the band stopped performing and Jack continued talking, with a grin so wide that it was the most noticeable thing on his face:

"Anne and Lawrence... You are as perfect for each other as anyone could be. You pulled out the best out of each other, changed each other's lives when it was most necessary and fell in undeniable, permanent and infinite love. I wish you guys a happy marriage with lots of love, healthy kids and everything else you want. Cheers!"

He ended his speech and we all had a sip of wine. The next speaker was Hillary. She stood up, smoothed her dress and spoke:

"You two know how much you mean to me and how much I appreciate you, so I won't waste any more words but these - best regards!"

She smiled at us and after another sip, Joshua stood up to speak:

"Anne was the one responsible for introducing me to Stacie and she was always the best friend I could wish for. Lawrence completes her and I wish them both all the best things."

Stacie was next:

"Anne, I'm so happy that you finally found the right guy for you. I wish you and Lawrence lots of love, happiness, health, kids, money and everything else that you want."

Lawrence and I smiled at each other and shared a kiss. The music started again.

After eating some dinner, cutting the cake and feeding each other with it as it's traditionally done at weddings, suddenly Joshua called:

"Bride, please come over with your bouquet..."

I glanced in his direction. He was standing next to Jack, in front of the band. I stood up, straightened my dress and went toward him, carrying my lovely bouquet. Lawrence remained sitting at his place, next to Georg. As I stepped on the stage, Jack smiled and spoke into the microphone:

"All the bachelorettes! It's bouquet catching time!"

Around a dozen girls, including Hillary and Stacie, formed a huddle a few meters away from the stage. They waited for Jack's countdown. I turned my back to them and waited to launch the bouquet over my shoulder in their direction.

"OK, Anne; you ready?" Joshua asked and I nodded in response.

"Three..." Jack started counting, followed by drum rolls. "Two...One!"

As he finished his countdown, I threw the bouquet. When I turned around to see who was lucky enough to catch it, the girls were still in a huddle. When they settled down, Stacie's hand was raised up and she was the one holding my bouquet. I clapped just like everyone else but before I tried to get off the stage, Jack kept me there by holding his hand on my back and called:

"Oh, Lawrence..."

I looked at him at our table, shifting his gaze to Jack.

"Garter stripping time!" Jack announced and I blushed, probably up to the roots of my hair, wondering if that was really a good idea as it seemed when we planned it. Lawrence stood up and walked over confidently, looking so good in his light grey tuxedo that it was incredible. He waited for me to get from the stage and held my hand.

"This will be fun," he said enthusiastically and grinned at me. I immediately wished that I had done the same thing as Bella in _Breaking__Dawn_ and lowered my garter all the way down to the ankle. I sighed and whispered in Lawrence's ear:

"Please, don't make this embarrassing."

"Don't worry, I can strip you down with just my teeth, remember?" he asked and winked at me. I remembered the time he was talking about and nodded contently. Jack put down a chair for me next to us. I sat on it while Jack was tying Lawrence's arms behind his back with a napkin. He went back to the stage and said:

"Buddy, you know your task, don't you?"

"Indeed," Lawrence replied and kneeled in front of me. He smiled devilishly as I lifted the skirt and put it cautiously over his head, in order not to flash my underwear at all guests.

He moved his head upward, brushing his face against my legs and caught the garter with his teeth. He pulled it all the way down to my ankle, over the stiletto's heel while I lifted my foot off the ground to make it easier for him and finally over the tip of my shoe. He stood up with the lacy garter in his mouth and turned around for me to untie his hands.

After throwing the garter to the bachelors (Jack caught it), the dancing began. Lawrence and I were the first to dance. Just as the first sounds of Bon Jovi's _"I'll__Be__There__For__You"_ echoed the dance floor, we were already swinging slowly to its rhythm.

Soon, most of the guests started dancing too. After one more song, Jack came over to us and asked:

"May your favorite best man have this dance?"

"If the bride agrees..." Lawrence said and smiled at me. I gave my hand to Jack and said:

"Of course."

We started dancing. Lawrence did the same with Hillary.

"So, Mrs. Hashbury, is the ring heavy?" Jack asked me as he turned me around my axis while holding my right hand.

"So-so..." I answered and smiled. He smiled widely as always and said, "I already told you but I'm so happy for you two. Six years ago, just the thought about Lawrence getting married seemed impossible to me."

"And to me, the thought that I was going to meet two charming vampires was unimaginable, too."

"Ex-vampires, you forget," he corrected me.

"Oh, right," I said and nodded before asking "And when will you propose to our little black haired angel? Too bad she didn't catch the bouquet."

"Soon, probably. I just need some things to settle down," he answered.

"You mean college, job?" I asked him, remembering he started attending Business School two years ago.

"Yep."

"Don't worry, everything will get to its right place eventually," I encouraged him.

"I know," he said and smiled at me before complimenting, "Hey, you're like...The prettiest bride I've ever seen."

"You're a very handsome best man yourself," I answered and just then, the song ended. We saw Georg walking towards us, along with my ex Matt.

"I'll leave you now," Jack said and went to dance with Hillary. He walked past Matt who noticed me and walked over. Lawrence glanced at Matt and me so I lip-synced to him that everything was OK.

Matt smiled apologetically at me and said:

"I'm not crashing this, I swear. I got the invitation."

"Stacie," I stated and smiled sheepishly.

"Yep. Look, I know this is an awkward situation but I had to apologize for being a jerk to you," he said and sighed. "Now that I'm clean and sober, I realize what kind of an asshole I was."

I could tell he was telling the truth when he said he was sober and clean. His eyes weren't bloodshot as they used to be after our breaking up, he didn't stink like beer and he looked fresh. His haircut was shorter than before but he still held on to his rock star style. It still looked good on him.

"Apology accepted," I said. "And I'm glad you stopped ruining yourself, Matt."

"Thanks, Anne. I wish you all the best with that guy...Once again, what's his name?" he asked and scratched his head.

"It's Lawrence," I said and chuckled.

"Right... I knew it started with an L."

"I have to thank you for something," I said.

"Thank me? For what?" he was confused.

"For teaching me how to pick a lock," I said, remembering the occasion when I was kidnapped.

"Why? Did you break into a bank or something?" he asked me and laughed.

"Nah... It was just a very useful skill," I answered. He took my looks in then and then commented:

"Jesus Christ... What kind of an idiot would cheat on somebody like you?"

I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Come here for a hug and then I have to run. I have a gig in half an hour," he said and spread his arms to hug me. I came to him, held him and then he kissed my forehead. "Best regards, sugar. You deserve this."

"Thanks, Matthew," I said, using his full name just to annoy him. We parted and I asked, "What's with the band?"

"We got through to the charts after releasing our first single," he answered.

"That's cool. I'll have to check your music out," I said.

"I'll be glad if you do. And do tell me your opinions, I know your taste in music was always remarkable. Do you still play?"

"Not really. When I feel the desire for it, I borrow Joshua's guitar," I answered.

"Well, starting from now you have your own guitar and AMP," he said proudly.

"What?" I asked happily, with a wide grin on my face.

"You have a dark blue Ibanez RG350dx wrapped in a box with a Marshall AMP between the rest of the gifts," he announced and pointed his finger to the table with the gifts. "Enjoy!"

"Oh my God! You shouldn't have," I said, happy because I finally got a guitar that I wanted.

"Yes, I should. I know that's your favorite and I owe you for all the shit you went through with me," he answered.

"Well, thanks. It surely won't be gathering the dust," I said and chuckled.

"Yep. See ya, gotta run," he said, placed one more kiss on my cheek and went away.

. . .

Deep in the night, somewhere between midnight and dawn, Anne and I were sitting at our table with Jack and Hillary. Stacie and Joshua were goofing around on the dance floor. We were slightly drunk and having great time. I poured a shot of whiskey for each one of us and before drinking it, Jack cheered:

"Here's one for us all. To remain friends!"

We all said cheers and gulped the contents of our little glasses. Anne exclaimed as she put her glass down on the table:

"Whoa. Enough for me."

She leaned back in her chair and I observed the sexy dark red dress that she had changed into after midnight. I stretched my arm out and held her around the shoulders.

"Tired?" I asked her, running my fingers through her hair.

"Sort of," she answered and sighed.

"We'll get going soon," I answered.

"Hey, who'll drive you to the airport?" Jack asked and poured another drink for himself. I pushed my empty glass toward him and he poured one shot for me too.

"Georg will. Right, sweetie?" I asked Anne. She nodded.

"I wish we could go to Paris too," Hillary said with a smile. "I heard it's so nice there."

"Maybe we will. Some day," Jack said to her and winked. She smiled contently.

Maybe an hour later, Georg drove us to the airport in my Mercedes CLK. It was the same one I was driving while working for the VAPA; I paid for it later and it became mine. Do you wonder where I got the money?

Well, a month before the retransformation, Jack and I were con men. We stole a few very expensive cars on our nights off, just as we had when we came to London in 2000. Once again, we were stealing from drug dealers and eventually earned two hundred thousand pounds from selling the cars on the black market. We shared the money, half to Jack and half to me. Later, we sold our old apartment and shared the money too. I bought the Mercedes and a two story family house in Camden for Anne and me.

We got out from the car and I walked to the trunk to get our luggage while Anne spoke with Georg before our two-week honeymoon in France. I closed the lid of the trunk and came over to them, carrying the bags. Anne took two light pieces of luggage and I shook hands with Georg. He told us:

"Have fun, kids."

"Thanks, dad," Anne said and kissed his cheek before hugging him.

"Jack will pick you up when you get back. I'll drive the car over to him," Georg told me.

"OK, sir." I nodded.

"Take care of my Anne, Hashbury."

"Will do," I promised before Anne and I went to check in. Our flight was leaving at six AM.

. . .

I was sitting, almost snoozing in first class of the plane to Paris. My head rested on Lawrence's shoulder and his arms were wrapped around me. He was still wearing his tuxedo and I wore my dress. I smiled and asked:

"Lawrence?"

"Tell me," he answered.

"Why do I have the feeling these are going to be the best two weeks of my life?"

He chuckled and answered:

"Because that's exactly how it's gonna be, ."


	36. Expect The Unexpected

_**A/N:**Hi people! _

_Here we are... One chapter from the end. When I started writing, ending this story seemed like such a distant thing to me, and now it's actually happening... :'( I'll miss uploading so much, I'll miss reading your reviews about Anne, Lawrence, about Jack's craziness, about my writing style... And miss my characters more than anything. But what has to be done, has to be done._

_If you just take a look at this chapter's title, you'll get a pretty good feeling of what you're about to read... Something unexpected. Actually - someone unexpected making his or her appearance. Do you have the slightest idea who it might be? _

_Well, I leave you to read and find out. Enjoy reading, of course, and sorry because this isn't a very long chapter. I wanted it to be intense like hell so I wrote only about things that matter._

_Bye bye 'til the next, last update :)_

_**P.S.** Watch out for the ***** symbol at the end of the last paragraph of the second part of this chapter! When you see it, scroll down and read the note at the bottom of the chapter before continuing to read, it's crucial to avoid possible confusion :)_

**36. Expect The Unexpected**

When we were shown into a deluxe hotel room in one of the most luxurious hotels in Paris and the bellhop took his leave, Anne and I dropped the pieces of luggage from our hands to the floor, looked all around us in awe and screamed excitedly. After that, we ran together towards the big (and when I say big, I mean king size) bed, hopped on it and started jumping playfully like kids. We became tired after some time and just fell down on the surface of the bed and lay there. I sighed heavily, gasping for air. I chuckled and asked Anne:

"So, this means you like the room?"

She chuckled back before answering, "Oh yes. It's perfect."

"Well, I asked only for the best, Mrs. Hashbury."

"Mmm, I like how that sounds and I like the fact that you did," she purred and straddled my hips instantly before continuing, "After all, you'll be kept indoors most of the honeymoon."

"You animal..." I said and chuckled contently, ready to have a passionate honeymoon.

"Animal is a too strong word," she said and bent down to kiss me. "Nymphomaniac would be a better one."

I rolled us over so that I was on top and mused, "That makes two of us."

. . .

Although Anne and I were more than willing to wrinkle the sheets as soon as we entered the suite, we fell asleep after stripping down. The wedding celebration and the flight were all too exhausting so we slept until the next day's sunset.

Oversleeping the whole day reminded me of my old vampire habits that I had managed to forget or substitute with other, mortal ones. It would have been surprising if it wasn't so; seeing as I was already in my second year of mortality. I couldn't even, for example, imagine how blood tasted anymore and honestly, I didn't want to. Not with all the foods that pampered my gourmet personality.

Speaking of which, one of the rare things that I missed from my vampire days was the inability to gain fat. However, signing up at a gym solved that problem. The last thing I missed, the ability to fly, was the hardest to cope with. But what I had received in return for my immortality was graciously plenty - the chance to live a mortal life with Anne, to give her kids and to grow old as someone's father and grandfather before dying a more or less peaceful death.

Anne was still sleeping peacefully as I got up and walked to the window to gaze at the colorful sky and the setting sun, ready to give its place to the moon. I opened a window to let some air inside and started dressing, with the intention of going down to the reception desk to order some dinner for Anne and me. I could've just called to order, but I didn't want to wake my Mrs.

I put a suit jacket on after my pants, shirt and shoes, put a small pistol loaded with wooden bullets in a hidden inner pocket of my jacket where it couldn't be seen and silently walked out of the room, closing the door on exiting. What was the pistol for? For defense against vampires, of course. Not that they were that frequent nowadays, all because of VAPA's progress, but just in case. When you become a vampire once and against your will, you don't really feel like experiencing the same hell once again just because of being unprepared. The aforementioned pistol was a gift straight from my former boss Gillianson, given with the advice that if I ever ran out of bullets for it, all I had to do was contact VAPA for them to send me some.

Thankfully, the receptionist spoke English. Heavily accented with French though, but still understandable enough. She took my order and said it would be delivered in fifteen to twenty minutes to our room. I took the elevator back up to the eighth floor, feeling the hungry growling just at the thought of French cuisine specialties. I opened the door of the room, entered with a smile on my face and closed it without looking inside.

"Well, well... Look who decided to join us," said a strangely familiar voice from behind me, obviously having fun. I froze in place as I remembered whose voice it was and turned around to see the proof. Once I did so, I saw that Anne was held around the neck and waist threateningly by a blonde with loose curls. Although her looks had changed, one thing remained the same. Her shiny blue eyes. It was my supposed to be dead and buried fiancée Natalie***** standing there.

. . .

I didn't even remember to draw out the pistol and try to do something to make Natalie let Anne go. The shock was too strong. I swallowed hard, like there was the biggest lump of something undefined stuck in my throat and I widened my eyes in disbelief. When I eventually pulled myself together after a few minutes during which Natalie just stood there and looked at me in amusement, I asked:

"Natalie?"

"Yes, my love?" she answered, her voice so sweet that it was terrifying. I heard the hidden notorious tone in her voice and I knew she wasn't up to anything good.

"What are you doing?" I asked her and saw Anne's horrified face, washed with tears.

"Is this your new plaything?" Natalie asked and smelled Anne's bare neck, brushing the skin on it with the tip of her nose. Anne shuddered in fear.

"She's not my plaything. She's my wife."

"Your what?" Natalie asked and laughed her signature high-pitched laugh. "Wife?"

She laughed again, this time even harder, obviously having a great time. Once she stopped laughing, she dismissed:

"Marriage is not meant for vampires. It's a primitive civic institution."

"You forgot to say Catholic," I reminded her bitterly. "And once upon a time, you were just that _primitive_, too, and that's why you turned me down at St Mary's."

"I didn't know that being a vampire was this fun," she said. "Now I'm here for you. We'll spend eternity together. You'll leave this blood bag if you don't want me to kill her."

"There's one problem with that."

"Nothing is a problem for us now, love," she answered.

"Except that I'm mortal and I would rather die than become a vampire again."

She looked at me in disbelief and just then somebody rang at the door behind me.

"Room service," said a male voice from outside.

"Just leave the cart in the hall, we'll drive it in ourselves," I called to the waiter.

"Yes sir. Bon appétit," the guy answered and soon I heard him walk away.

"What did you just say to me, Lawrence?" Natalie asked me.

"I said I'm a mortal now."

"How?" she asked, harshly pushed Anne away from her into the corner and walked towards me. Anne sat down in fear and wiped away her tears.

"I earned it," I answered curtly.

"Bullshit," she said and immediately touched my cheek to check if I was cold. As she realized it was warm, she looked at me skeptically. Still in doubt, she took my jacket off forcefully, tossed it over her shoulder straight onto the surface of the bed next to Anne and ripped my shirt open to feel the skin on my torso. I flinched as I felt her icy hand on my skin.

While Natalie was still busy with measuring my temperature and probably using the opportunity to touch me, Anne silently reached into the inner pocket of my jacket to retrieve the pistol, as she knew very well I kept it there. I sighed as she took it and hid it next to her, waiting for an appropriate moment to use it.

"I can easily fix you," Natalie concluded as she finally realized I wasn't a vampire anymore.

"That's not called fixing," I protested. "I'm happy the way I am now. And since when have you become such a fan of immortality?"

"You really don't know anything, do you? You think that I actually died?"

"The gravestone said you did, in 1869," I remembered and she laughed before answering:

"Yeah, I still can't figure out how they gave me such a long lifetime when actually I went_missing_ in 1792 and there was no trace of me ever after."

"Did you want to be turned or was it like with me?"

"I wanted it," she answered.

"What the hell, Natalie? When I came to you the last night we met, you said you could never be a vampire. You said that you would rather die instead. How does such an attitude change in just three years?" I asked her in rage.

"Like you said, honey... There was too little for someone like me in Cardiff. My parents arranged me a marriage with the biggest asshole in town; living with him was a hell on Earth and one night I snuck out of our house into the night. I believe you know what must have happened next."

"How did you find me?"

"I've been trying for all these years and finally today I found a Camden residence belonging to Mr. Hashbury - you, came across the number of the office where you work and asked where you were. Simple."

"You're a stalker."

"Don't tell me you aren't glad to see me," she purred.

"And what do you expect me to do now? Throw away everything - mortality, my wife and my friends, let you turn me and live a pointless life with you?"

"Preferably."

"No way, Natalie. You had your chance with me and you blew it."

"Don't make me force you, Lawrence," she threatened and extended her fangs, bringing her face into mine. "We both know I'm perfectly able to."

Behind her, Anne was already standing and aiming at her.

"Nat, I can make sure you become a mortal again, too. Just don't do this," I honestly offered, not wanting her death to be the only solution.

"And make me a weak, obedient citizen? _Again?_ I don't think so," she refused and just as she started leaning in to bite me, I pushed her away from me with full force. She was surprisingly weak for a vampire, or maybe I was surprisingly strong for a mortal, because she stumbled backwards a meter's distance from me. Just as she growled at me sinisterly, intending to launch herself at me and attack me again, I yelled to Anne:

"Shoot! Don't hesitate!"

Just as Natalie turned back to Anne, Anne pulled the trigger once and blinked as the bullet was fired, as she wasn't used to the sound of it. One bullet didn't stop Natalie as she started walking to Anne, probably because it was off the target.

"He's my husband, you bitch!" Anne threatened and fired another bullet followed by the final one that killed Natalie. Natalie lost her balance, stumbled around a little and fell down on the floor. Anne dropped the gun as she shuddered in the corner, with tears still streaming down her cheeks. I walked over to her before picking the gun up to fire another bullet just to be sure Natalie was really dead and then she threw herself in my arms. I held her close firmly, kissed the top of her hair and said reassuringly:

"Calm down honey, it's all over now."

She sobbed and squealed to me:

"I was so afraid, I thought I was going to lose you."

I made her look at me, took her face in my hands tenderly and said with love, looking straight into her eyes:

"I can't say you never will but I guarantee you - not in this lifetime."

"That's all I'm asking for," she answered calmly and we kissed. When we ended the kiss, she asked, "Now how about finally having our dinner; I'm starving?"

_***** - Initially, in the old chapter 9, her name was Catherine but eventually I decided to change it to Natalie for some reasons. Continue reading :)_


	37. The Good Life

_**A/N: **Hi! :)_

_I really have no idea why I waited this long to upload this final chapter so forgive me for the HUGE delay. I hope your waiting will be worth it, I hope you'll like the chapter. Here comes the last A/N, awfully long, so if you have the patience, read it._

_All good things come to an end. So yeah, unfortunately this is the end of this story. It's completely told and finished, all the characters got what they deserved and the storyline had unfolded just like I wanted. I just have to say a few cheesy lines before letting you read the actual chapter, I feel the need..._

_Writing this story, and more important - publishing it on this site, was such a nice, important and interesting experience. I learned so much, my English went up to a whole new level, I got so many nice and encouraging reviews, acquired two awesome beta readers... One thing left, I actually finished what I had started (I don't tend to do that often, usually I start lots of things and none of them get finished) and the feeling is great :)_

_That were the good things about ending this... The bad thing is that I'll be missing those good things and I'll miss my characters. My prequel project is far from even being started but I hope I'll manage to start writing it one day. Until then, if you'll miss my writing, check out my other fanfic if you still haven't. You might like it. But the thing is - that other fanfic is stopped and I'm pretty sure that it will stay that way for some time because I have no inspiration left. I didn't really connect with the characters from that story, unlike with the ones from this one._

_Oh... One more 'project' that I started and that's going forward really successfully is a fanfic about one other kind of supernatural creatures, not vampires. It's about guardian, or Sentinel like I call them, angels. I'm really into the story and it has great potential but the problem is that I still haven't found an adequate category on this site... So what I would like to hear is: are you interested in reading it? Just say yes or no in the review, along with your opinion about this chapter. It's kind of easy to write cause again, the main characters are something beyond human. And don't worry, the story isn't too religious, fanatic or anything like that cause I'm not, either._

_Well, that's all I had to say this time... Enjoy this last chapter and stay tuned to my profile for possible new stories or updates._

_Thank you for all the reviews! Even if you didn't review at all, thanks for reading this thing. Much love,_

_Mimi ;)_

**37. The Good Life**

_One year later_

"Don't worry, Chloe, we'll win this thing," I reassured my client over the phone as I waited for the three magistrates to return to the courtroom and deliver their sentence.

Chloe was twenty-two years old and my third client since I had left my previous law firm to become an independent lawyer. I was prosecuting her former boss who had sexually harassed her while she was still his secretary. The guy was a big jerk, chief executive of his publishing house in Newham, London. A rich jerk in addition to that.

"Are you sure? He must have bribed the judges to free him from the accusations," she said in desperation.

"Trust me, the evidence and the witnesses are all too convincing."

"Thanks for your efforts to make him pay," she eventually said and I smiled before checking how my suit and tie looked. After ending the call, I drank some water to soothe my throat that was incredibly dry after all the talking and objections to Fawter's lawyer's stupid conclusions. Just as I put the bottle back into my briefcase and arranged the papers on the desk in front of me, the court officer announced:

"All rise!"

We stood up and watched the three magistrate judges walk inside and sit at their positions. We all sat down and then the magistrate in the middle asked me:

"Does the prosecutor's lawyer have anything to add before hearing the sentence?"

I stood up again and answered confidently and loud enough for him to hear me:

"No, your honor. I believe that all that was said today was enough to help you make a fair judgment."

"Thank you, Mr. Hashbury. You may sit back down," he said and nodded before asking Fawter's lawyer, a middle-aged woman who was most famous for always losing in trial and yet still found people stupid enough to take her as their attorney, "Mrs. Davis, do you have anything to add?"

"No," she answered. The main magistrate shuffled through his papers afterwards. Once the female magistrate sitting on his left handed him what he was looking for, he said:

"All rise!"

Once all the people in the courtroom were on their feet, he started speaking:

"Sexual harassment is a serious misdemeanor not only against English Law but also against the moral customs of society in general. Therefore, this Court is required, taking in concern all given evidence and witnesses' statements, to sentence Mr. Alexander Fawter guilty as charged."

Once he banged the wooden hammer against the surface of his desk, he added:

"Mr. Fawter, you're obligatory to pay the ten thousand pounds compensatory damages to Miss Sommers and court fees according to the Court Statute. This hearing is over."

After seeing the magistrates exit, I collected my things and walked outside the courtroom to met Chloe, who was waiting in the hall. Once I saw her, I smiled at her and said:

"They found him guilty."

"Oh my God, thank you," Chloe said happily and hugged me. I grinned to her and answered when she let me go, "Don't mention it, it's my job."

"You're like the best lawyer out there," she praised and I answered while shaking my head:

"Stop, you're flattering me."

She wanted to add something but when she noticed my wedding ring, she gave up on that idea and asked instead:

"When should I pay you the second half?"

"You know what? I'm in a good mood today and you're just a student, so let's call it even," I said graciously, remembering how much money I had earned from my last client.

"Really?" she checked, obviously happy because of my decision.

"Really," I confirmed. "Buy yourself something nice instead."

"Thanks, it was a pleasure to work with you," she said and we shook hands.

"Back at you," I answered and then casually said to Mrs. Davis who was just passing by us with her furious client, "Better luck next time."

She just frowned at me and I headed for the exit of the Magistrates' Court. Just as I walked through the door and stepped on the pavement before a few steps going down, my cell phone rang. I waved back at Chloe who hurried to catch a cab and checked who was calling me. Jack. I answered as I went down the stairs lazily:

"Jack, what's up?"

"The due date of your wife, that's what's up," he answered excitedly.

"What?" I checked, remembering that Anne was supposed to give birth to our baby boy in two weeks.

"Her water broke half an hour ago and Hillary and I took her to the hospital, she's already in labor."

"Oh my God," I said and smiled as I unlocked my Mercedes. "Center Hospital, right?"

"Yes, get over here fast!" he urged me.

"Coming!" I said before turning the engine on and speeding towards the hospital.

Strangely for the current time of the day, there were no traffic jams and I got there in time. I practically ran out of the car once I parked it and automatically went up to the room where Anne was, since I already knew its location.

Outside the room, there was Jack with Hillary and Joshua, sitting and waiting for me. Stacie was inside with Anne, I guessed.

"Here comes the father!" Jack said proudly as he saw me. "Ask the nurse for the protection cap and clothes and get inside."

I glanced around, disoriented and sighed as the nurse handed me the dark green outfit. Once I put it on, I went in to join Anne without thinking how ridiculous I looked.

Anne was lying in the bed sweaty and with a painful expression on her face. Stacie was next to her, holding her hand; the doctor was in the corner, preparing something and the nurse was helping her.

"Anne, love!" I said as I approached her and kissed her.

"Honey, he's coming," she said with a smile.

"I know, I'm so happy," I answered and held the hand that Stacie wasn't holding. "Stacie, go and have a coffee or something, you deserve it."

"Yeah, now Lawrence is here, go and hang with the crowd outside," Anne agreed. "And thanks for being here."

"No problem, friend. I'm glad," Stacie said before walking out.

. . .

"So when did your water break?" Lawrence asked me once Stacie walked out as he removed the hair from my sweaty forehead.

"Uh, just when I went from the kitchen to living room to watch the news. You should've seen the flood, it was like a freaking garden pond," I said and laughed despite the pain.

"No kidding?" He asked me and laughed with me.

"Nope, basically ducks could swim in it without any problems," I added and gripped my round stomach as I felt another labor pain coming.

"Did you get the epidural?"

"No, they can't give it to me, it would be too dangerous for the baby," I answered and caught him looking at me with worry. "Hey, I'll be OK, I just need you here with me."

"And here you have me," he answered and then the doctor approached the bed and checked under the sheet to see how we were progressing.

"Anne, you'll have to start pushing now, I can see the top of the baby's head," she instructed me as she sat down and the nurse brought her the instruments. "This baby is very stubborn to get out."

"Like father, like son," I said and started using all my strength to push.

"Oh so I'm stubborn now," Lawrence asked, pretending to be offended and smiled. I gripped onto his hand and squeezed it to ease my pain. When everybody told me that birthing a baby was the most painful thing you could ever experience, I didn't believe them. But now I was absolutely convinced that they were right.

"So how was your day?" I asked Lawrence just to occupy my mind with something else but the pain.

"I won a case again. You know, the one where a young secretary was abused by her boss."

"You're good at it."

"Well today it was a little easier than usual. The defendant's lawyer is the most incompetent lawyer in London," he answered and remembered, "Which reminds me, I met one of your fellow teachers today."

"Who?" I wondered, since he had met some of my colleagues when he picked me up a few times after my work at the high school where I was teaching English.

"You know, the one who gives the worst grades and whose teaching is terrible."

"Oh, the Math teacher, Grace," I said, remembering that pain in the ass woman with zero teaching abilities.

"Yeah, the one with bad hair."

"Where did you meet her?"

"In a bakery near my office, she lives nearby as she told me," he answered and then the doctor told us:

"We're almost there... Push, Anne; push!"

After ten more minutes, I was so exhausted that I didn't even feel the pain anymore, just Lawrence's hand holding mine. I closed my eyes for a moment to regain some strength and just then, someone's strong crying snapped my eyes open. Lawrence's grin was so wide as we saw the doctor wrapping our son in a light blue blanket and we kissed as we waited for the nurse to clean him and bring him to us.

"Congratulations, your boy is healthy and beautiful," the nurse said a few moments later as she carried our little boy to Lawrence and me. I held the baby carefully like it was the most precious thing in this world and we both gazed at him. Dark brown brilliant eyes looking at us in wonder, chubby cheeks and a little bit of light brown hair on his head. I couldn't say anything as I was overwhelmed with pride and happiness. Lawrence said to the little creature proudly, after kissing his forehead:

"Welcome to the family, son..."

_The End_


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